ilifornia 

'ional 

ility 


SITY  OF 
ORNIA 

3IEGO 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 

THE  STORY  0/THE  LIFE  OF  THE 
FIRST  JOHN  ALDEN  IN  AMERICA 


WITH  THE  INTERWOVEN  STORY  OF  THE  LIFE  &  DOINGS 

OF  THE  PILGRIM  COLONY,  AND  SOME 

ACCOUNT  OF  LATER  ALDENS 


PREPARED  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 

AUGUSTUS  E.  ALDEN 


ILLUSTRATED 


JAMES  H.  EARLE   &    COMPANY 

178  WASHINGTON    STREET,    BOSTON 


Copyright  igoz 
By  JAMES  H.  EARLE  &•   COMPANY 


All  Rights  Reserved 


To  the  Name  of 
JOHN   ALDEN 

the   mang   Worthy  Men  who  tear  it 
This   BOOK  Is  dedicated 


TABLE  of  CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 

PILGRIM     CHURCH. 

Pa** 

Introduction  -  J7 

Chapter  I.    The  Church  in  England  -  22 

DL    Pilgrims  in  Holland    -  -  29 

IE.    The  Voyage  of  the  Mayflower  -  39 

IV.    Pilgrims  in  America  -  48 


PAR.T    II. 

PILGRIM    ALDEN. 

Chapter  V.    John  Alden     -  -  67 

VL    Plymouth  Magistrate  -  88 

VTL    Characteristics  -  JOJ 

VIIL    The  Daughter  of  the  Norman  -            -  115 

IX.    The  Wooing  of  Priscilla  -            -  J36 

X.    A  Pilgrim  Household  -  I5J 

XL    The  Old  Home  at  Duxbury  -            -  J72 

XII.    Aldens  of  Later  Days  -  J88 

Xm.    The  Alden  and  Mottoes  Arms  -            -  2J3 

Appendix:     The  Mayflower's  Passengers  -  222 


LIST  of    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

I.  The  Aldcn  House.  FRONTISPIECE 

II.  Pulpit  Rock  and  Plymouth  Rock.  16 

III.  Scrooby  Hamlet.  25 

IV.  Delfthaven.  37 

V.  Model  of  the  Mayflower.  39 

VI.  The  Signing  of  the  Compact.  44 
VII.  The  Greeting  of  Samoset.  57 

Vm.  The  Return  of  the  Mayflower.  62 

IX.  John  Alden's  Bible.  67 

X.  Priscilla's  Silver.  72 

XI.  Document  Drawn  by  Magistrate  Alden.  88 

XII.  Standish  House,  Duxbury.  94 

Xm.  The  Eagle  Trees.  96 

XIV.  The  Alden  House,  Side  View.  100 

XV,  Snow-Shoe,  Halberd  and  Signature.  J06 
XVI,  Chair  and  Cabinet.  115 

XVII.  Priscilla.  136 

XVHI.  Pabodie  House,  Little  Compton.  151 

XIX.  The  Attic  Chimney.  154 

XX.  Elizabeth  Pabodie's  Tomb.  J56 

XXI.  Tablet  in  New  Old  South  Church,  Boston.        162 

XXn.  View  of  Duxbury.  J72 

XXin.  Ancient  Stair.  182 

XXIV.  Four  Descendants.  189 

XXV.  Typical  Alden  Family.  J96 

XXVI.  Priscilla  of  Today.  205 

XXVH.  "The  Alden  Kindred."  2tO 

XXVIII.  National  Monument  to  the  Pilgrims.  220 


PREFACE. 

There  is  sometimes  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  persons 
who  mistake  plebeianism  for  democracy  to  deride,  as  sa- 
voring of  snobbery,  all  interest  in  ancestry  and  family 
tradition.  It  requires  little  reflection  to  show  the  short- 
sightedness of  such  an  attitude.  Among  the  moral  forces 
which  go  to  make  civilized  man  civilized  and  not  savage, 
there  are  few  more  potent  than  those  which  have  their 
source  in  family  ties  and  traditions.  We  have  only  to 
look  back  upon  Mediaeval  Europe  to  see  by  how  narrow 
a  margin  the  peoples  of  those  days  were  saved  from 
degenerate  barbarism;  and  that  saving  marge  lay  in  the 
restraints  imposed  by  knightly  chivalry  and  knightly  de- 
voir—in an  ethic  code  of  caste  and  station  which  served 
to  make  men  noble.  And  even  in  our  own  prosaic  day, 
the  day  of  commonplace  comfort,  as  it  has  been  called, 
there  are  instances  not  a  few  where  the  child  of  an  an- 
cient house  has  been  saved  from  erring  by  the  strength 
of  the  hearth-ties,  where  the  failing  and  the  faltering 
have  been  reinspired  by  the  resonance  of  old  traditions, 
where  the  life  of  the  son's  son  has  been  rendered  noble 
by  the  nobility  of  the  sire.  Each  of  us  issues  from  the 
complex  interweaving  of  the  lives  of  our  fathers  and 
mothers,  farther  back  than  reaches  the  memory  of  man. 


i4  PREFACE 

Hidden  away  in  the  mind's  dim  attics  are  bits  of  the  an- 
cient furnishings  and  trappings  which  were  the  decking 
of  their  days.  Yet  the  old  furniture  is  often  still  sub- 
stantial, and  an  ancient  mirror,  polished  anew,  is  some- 
times brought  forth,  at  the  unexpected  moment,  in  the 
unexpected  way,  revealing  us  as  strangers  to  ourselves. 
Perhaps  we  may  never  know  ourselves,  quite  as  we  are, 
save  we  polish  and  brighten  the  ancient  mirrors. 

Good  old  Ebenezer  Alden  in  his  -'Memorial  of  the  De- 
scendants of  the  Honorable  John  Alden,"  starts  out,  in 
the  approved  mode  of  the  learned  treatise,  with  a  defini- 
tion: "Genealogy  is  family  history:  to  some  a  chaos  of 
clry  facts;  very  dry;  to  others,  facts  revealing  principles, 
laws,  methods  of  the  divine  government."  And  then  he 
adds,  as  if  to  soften  the  sour  savor  of  his  italics:  "Gen- 
ealogy has  its  lessons  for  such  as  will  study  them;  its 
uses  for  such  as  can  appreciate  and  interpret  them."  We 
can  agree  both  with  the  italics  and  with  the  moral. 
Most  genealogies  are  egregiously  dry.  hut  at  the  same 
time  there  are  few  of  them,  indeed,  which  fail  to  furnish 
forth  material  for  sermon  and  for  romance— the  simple 
sermon  of  lives  well  lived,  the  thrilling  romance  of  the 
brave  deeds  and  true  loves  of  those  lives.  The  volume 
in  hand  is  not  a  genealogy.  It  is  rather  an  attempt  to 
give  some  fragmentary  picture  of  what  life  meant  to  two 
brave  hearts  that  became  one  for  its  battles  in  the  very 


PREFACE  IS 

dawn  of  our  national  history.  Some  hint  we  hope  to 
give,  of  the  races  and  traditions  which  produced  these 
two;  some  sketch  of  the  conditions  and  chances  which 
threw  them  together  upon  the  bleak  shores  of  the  New 
World;  some  touch  of  their  personalities;  some  tale  of 
their  oft-told  love,  and  some  count  of  the  children  who 
were  born  of  it. 

"I  had  rather  have  one  drop  of  Puritan  blood  in  my 
veins  than  all  that  ever  flowed  in  the  veins  of  kings  and 
princes,"  said  John  Quincy  Adams.  And  there  is  not 
one  of  all  those  who  like  him  are  sprung  from  the  union 
of  John  and  Priscilla  Alden  who  would  dissent  from  that 
saying.  For  theirs  is  a  precious  heritage— the  fair  name 
of  a  brave  and  honorable  sire,  the  sweet  story  of  a 
mother's  worthy  love.  Nor  need  we  add  that  theirs,  too, 
is  a  precious  charge;  that  it  is  theirs  to  see  that  no  dis- 
honor sully  so  fair  a  name,  that  there  come  no  blot  upon 
the  family  escutcheon. 

The  principal  sources  from  which  the  author  of  this 
volume  has  drawn  the  facts  herein  set  forth,  other  than 
such  as  have  been  personally  communicated  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Alden  family,  are:  For  the  Pilgrim  history: 
Governor  Bradford's  "History  of  Plymouth  Plantation"; 
John  O.  Goodwin's  "Pilgrim  Republic,"  and  Wm.  E.  Grif- 
fis'  "The  Pilgrims  in  Their  Three  Homes."  For  matter  re- 
lating to  the  Aldens:  Justin  Winsor's  "History  of  Dux- 


16  PREFACE 

bury":  Rev.  Timothy  Alden's  "A  Collection  of  American 
Epitaphs  and  Inscriptions";  Dr.  Ebenezer  Alden's  "Mem- 
orial of  the  descendants  of  the  Hon.  John  Alden";  Rev. 
John  Alden's  "The  Story  of  a  Pilgrim  Family,"  and 
various  contributions  to  the  ''Mayflower  Descendant"  and 
the  "New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register," 
especially  Mrs.  Charles  L.  Alden's  "Alden  Genealogy" 
published  in  the  latter  periodical. 

The  author  and  the  book's  sponsor  also  wish  to  express 
their  thanks  to  Mr.  Edwin  S.  Crandon.  of  the  staff  of 
the  Boston  Transcript,  and  to  Mrs.  Harriet  B.  Snyder  of 
Tecumseh,  Mich.,  both  of  Alden  lineage,  for  valuable 
suggestions  and  materials;  also  to  Mr.  John  W.  Alden  of 
the  Duxbury  homestead,  for  photographic  privileges, 
and  to  the  many  other  members  of  the  kindred  who 
have  by  aid  and  kindly  interest  furthered  the  work. 


Plymouth  Rock,  Plymouth. 
Pulpit  Rock,  Clark's  Island. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  three  hundred  years  that  have  passed  since 
the  beginnings  of  that  religious  dissent  which 
caused  the  first  peopling  of  New  England  have 
witnessed  many  changes  in  human  environment 
and  affairs.  But  not  in  these  alone.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  think  of  what  we  term  human  nature  as  of 
constant  quality  and  value,  always  to  be  counted 
upon  as  the  same  in  every  estimate  of  the  meaning 
of  human  action.  When  we  reflect,  however,  we 
see  that  this  is  not  really  the  case.  Human  nature 
is  by  no  means  universally  the  same  and  it  does 
change.  The  nature  of  the  savage  is  different  from 
that  of  the  civilized  man, —  for  civilization  is  not 
merely  that  veneer  which  cynical  writers  so  often 
tell  us  it  is;  it  is  a  complex  of  very  real  and  intimate 
qualities  engrafted  upon  the  essence  of  the  civilized 
man's  personality.  Cleanliness  is  as  necessary  as 
food  to  the  comfort  of  the  modern  European,  but 
not  at  all  to  that  of  the  aborigine.  And  we  often 
contrast  the  instinctive  industry  of  the  white  and 
yellow  races  with  the  no  less  instinctive  idleness  of 
the  black  and  red.  Again  we  contrast  Saxon  and 
Celtic  temperament  —  the  bull-dog  pertinacity  of 


1 8  INTRODUCTION 

the  Englishman  with  the  exuberant  good  nature  of 
his  Irish  brother, —  for,  after  all  they  are  brothers; 
their  racial  difference  is  not  wider  than  the  Irish 
Sea.  And  as  between  different  eras  and  centuries, 
each  has  its  characteristic  tone  and  quality  which 
we  speak  of  as  the  spirit  of  this  age  or  that  —  of 
the  Dark  Ages,  the  Renaissance,  of  the  Eighteenth, 
the  Nineteenth  centuries.  And  all  of  these  distinc- 
tions refer  ultimately  to  psychological  differences  in 
human  nature. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  spiritual 
revolutions  that  have  ever  taken  place,  and  cer- 
tainly the  most  noteworthy  change  in  human  na- 
ture within  recent  centuries,  is  the  development  of 
humanitarianism,  of  sympathy  of  man  for  man.  In 
the  time  of  Elizabeth  mutilation,  burning  at  the 
stake,  disemboweling,  were  recognized  forms  of 
punishment  for  crime.  Torture  was  still  used  to 
exact  truthful  witness.  Pillage  and  rapine  were  im- 
plied in  the  definition  of  war.  And  the  heads  of 
enemies  of  the  state  were  displayed  above  London 
Tower  in  much  the  same  spirit  of  vaunting  with 
which  the  American  Indian  displayed  his  scalp 
trophies.  Even  two  centuries  later  the  insane  were 
treated  as  criminals,  or  worse;  eleemosynary  insti- 
tutions were  comparatively  unknown;  and  there 


INTRODUCTION  19 

was  yet  a  school  of  philosophy  which  taught  that 
animals  have  neither  sense  nor  feeling,  and  that  no 
torture  brings  them  pain. 

In  the  Twentieth  century,  even  in  civilized  lands, 
there  is  left  brutality  enough.  But  the  conscience 
of  the  world  has  been  awakened,  and  men  have 
come  to  sympathize  with  one  another  and  to  feel 
responsibility  for  the  sufferings  of  their  fellows. 
Perhaps  this  is  because  the  human  organism  is  be- 
come more  delicately  responsive  to  influences  from 
without,  so  that  whether  they  will  or  no  men  are 
forced  to  share  the  pains  of  each  other.  But  in  any 
case  a  new  spirit  of  tolerance  and  compassion  has 
developed  which  is  the  fairest  promise  for  the 
future  worth  of  the  human  race. 

Charity  and  tolerance  grow  step  by  step  with 
sympathy.  In  1600  there  was  but  one  land  in  the 
civilized  world  where  religious  liberty  could  be 
found.  And  in  the  Dutch  Republic  it  existed  less 
from  principle  than  from  practical  need,  for  the 
Holland  of  that  day  was  sore  pressed  by  her  Span- 
ish overlord,  and  was  ready  at  any  price  to  secure 
the  hands  which  would  help  her  industries  or  arms 
to  throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke. 

It  was  to  Holland  that  the  intolerance  of  Eng- 
land first  drove  that  little  band  of  religious  outcasts 


2o  INTRODUCTION 

which  we  know  as  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Poverty 
and  the  desire  for  a  purer  atmosphere  and  a  free- 
dom to  grow,  in  turn  urged  them  on  to  America. 

In  searching  out  the  beginnings  of  that  slow- 
spreading  evolution  of  the  spirit  of  compassion 
which  has  been  and  is  gradually  kneading  the 
whole  world  into  one  human  folk,  there  is  to  be 
found  no  more  significant  story  than  that  of  the 
Pilgrim  Church.  The  Fathers  were  not  men  of  our 
country,  nor  of  our  type  or  nature;  and  we  must 
not  judge  them  as  such.  Austere  they  were,  al- 
most to  asceticism.  Fanatic  we  might  call  them 
today,  and  bigoted.  But  in  the  age  in  which  they 
lived  they  were  first  in  liberal  charity,  and  their 
early  history  abounds  in  instances  of  devotion  and 
service,  not  only  to  one  another,  but  to  strangers 
and  yet  those  who  used  them  ill,  which  are  not  ex- 
ceeded in  nobility  by  the  finest  examples  in  human 
annals.  Certain  defences  were  necessary  to  the 
preservation  of  the  foundling  colony,  but  in  so  far 
as  they  could  they  established  a  city  of  refuge  for 
all  who  were  oppressed  and  a  church  of  toleration 
in  the  wilderness.  And  when,  in  an  age  yet  to 
come,  clannish  patriotism  and  pride  of  race  shall 
have  given  way  to  a  broader  pride  in  a  nobler 
humanhood  —  when  in  place  of  Saxon,  Mongol,  or 


INTRODUCTION  21 

Slav,  man's  ideal  shall  be  Man, —  the  Rock  of 
Landing  will  be  honored  not  merely  as  the  thresh- 
old of  a  great  civic  state,  but  as  a  stepping-stone 
in  the  progress  of  humankind  toward  its  final  Re- 
public, to  ;be  founded  in  mutual  tolerance,  sym- 
pathy and  love. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE,  CHURCH  IN  ENGLAND. 

CCLESIASTICAL  England  in  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth  was  divided  into 
warring  factions.  Tables  were  turned 
against  the  Catholics  who  had  been 
dominant  in  Mary's  time,  and  they 
were  well  nigh  driven  to  cover.  But 
the  Protestant  Church  of  England  was 
already  become  as  a  house  divided 
against  itself,  and  when  James  I  as- 
cended the  throne  he  found  two  clearly  defined 
parties  within  the  authorized  fold.  These  par- 
ties were  the  Conformists,  or  High  Ritualists, 
and  the  Noncomformists,  or  Puritans.  The  Con- 
formists wished  to  develop  the  church  as  nearly 
as  possible  on  the  model  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
and  to  this  end  insisted  upon  the  sanctity  and  sig- 
nificance of  the  church  ceremonies  and  exalted 
the  authority  of  the  church  itself  and  of  the  King 
as  its  earthly  head. 

The  Puritans,  on  the  other   hand,  objected    to 
showy  ceremonies,  especially  such  as  seemed  still 


THE  CHURCH  IN  ENGLAND  2  3 

to  imply  allegiance  to  rejected  tenets  of  the  Rom- 
ish Church.  The  King  naturally  favored  that 
party  which  was  inclined  to  magnify  his  position 
and  powers,  and  in  consequence  the  Puritan  clergy 
were  hard  pressed,  many  of  them  being  ruined  by 
the  despotic  regulations  enforced  upon  them  and 
nearly  all  being  driven  from  their  holdings.  But 
this  despotism  aroused  the  laity.  Puritanism  be- 
came a  political  as  well  as  a  religious  movement, 
and  during  the  entire  reign  of  James  I  the  political 
Puritans  were  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. The  controlling  hand  they  did  not  get,  how- 
ever, until  the  time  of  Cromwell,  when  long  years 
of  tyranny  and  injustice  had  brought  on  not  only 
political  reaction  and  revolution,  but  to  the  hurt  of 
the  race,  that  spirit  of  morose  and  gloomy  piety 
for  which  the  name  "  Puritan "  has  ever  since 
stood, —  a  spirit  which  was  to  render  "  Merrie 
England  "  in  the  old  Elizabethan  sense  forever- 
more  impossible,  and  to  strangle  in  its  first  vigor 
that  genius  for  song  which  might  have  made  Eng- 
land instead  of  Germany  the  mother  of  the  music 
of  the  civilized  world,  now,  as  she  was  then.  It  was 
the  price  of  English  liberty,  however,  for  it  was 
the  Puritans  alone  in  those  unquiet  days  who  ward- 
ed the  sacred  fire. 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 


That  is,  in  England.  In  America  the  nurture  of 
liberty  was  first  entrusted  to  other  hands.  In  the 
realm  of  King  James  there  were,  beside  Conform- 
ists and  Puritans,  certain  religious  reformers  vari- 
ously known  as  Separatists,  Independents,  and 
Brownists,  —  the  latter  name  being  applied  to  the 
followers  of  an  Independent  preacher  named 
Brown,  and  from  these  extended  to  include  other 
Independent  congregations.  The  Separatists  did 
not  differ  in  the  fundamentals  of  their  faith  from 
either  party  adhering  to  the  Church  of  England, 
'but  they  did  differ  in  their  conception  of  church 
government,  and  above  all  they  objected  to  the 
notion  that  there  could  be  an  earthly  head  to  any 
spiritual  organization.  As  a  consequence  of  this 
iconoclasm,  the  Separatists  incurred  the  displeas- 
ure both  of  Puritan  and  Conformist,  and  they  were 
hanged  and  banished  with  such  a  hearty  good  will 
that  the  sect  —  never  large  —  soon  disappeared 
altogether.  At  the  accession  of  James  I  there  re- 
mained in  the  whole  of  Britain  but  one  of  their 
congregations  —  the  church  at  Gainsborough,  a 
town  some  fifty  miles  from  London  ;  and  two  years 
later,  in  1605,  even  this  church  was  forced  to  flee 
to  Holland  for  safety.  But  a  fragment  of  the  con- 
gregation remained  behind,  at  the  hamlet  of  Scroo- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  ENGLAND  2  5 

by,  a  few  miles  west  of  Gainsborough,  and  out  of 
this  fragment  was  to  grow  the  final  and  most  fate- 
ful fruition  of  the  Separatist  movement  —  the 
Church  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

The  hamlet  of  Scrooby  was  a  post-station  on  the 
Great  Northern  Road  which  led  from  London  to 
the  "  North  Country."  It  was  the  business  of  the 
"  post,"  as  the  post-officer  was  then  called,  to  tend 
the  forwarding  of  the  court  mails,  and  to  entertain 
travelers  and  supply  them  with  horses  at  a  rental 
of  three  pence  per  mile  —  a  traffic  which  was  re- 
served as  a  government  monopoly.  From  1590  to 
1607  the  "  post  "  at  Scrooby  was  William  Brewster, 
the  son  of  William  Brewster,  who  had  held  the 
office  before  him.  In  his  younger  days  Brewster, 
Jr.,  had  been  attached  to  the  service  of  Secretary  of 
State  Davison,  and  with  him  had  been  in  Holland 
on  diplomatic  business. 

But  when  Davison  had  fallen  under  the  displeas- 
ure of  Elizabeth,  Brewster  retired  to  the  seclusion 
of  Scrooby  and  there,  in  due  time,  succeeded  to  his 
father's  position. 

Brewster  was  then  a  Puritan,  and  he  interested 
himself  in  building  up  the  churches  in  the  vicinity, 
many  of  which  were  without  pastors  and  were 
fallen  into  decay.  The  church  of  his  own  choice 


26  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

and  attendance  was  that  presided  over  by  Richard 
Clifton  at  Babworth,  some  four  miles  walk  through 
the  fields.  Here  he  was  accustomed  to  take  his 
young  friend,  William  Bradford,  an  orphaned  son 
of  a  well-to-do  yeoman  of  the  Yorkshire  village  of 
Austerfield,  two  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Scrooby. 
Bradford  had  come  to  Brewster  when  a  mere  boy, 
in  search  of  a  spiritual  companionship  and  sym- 
pathy which  his  native  village  did  not  afford.  And 
without  doubt  the  scholarly  attainments  and  ex- 
quisite style  of  the  future  governor  of  Plymouth 
and  author  of  its  earliest  history  were  largely  the 
consequence  of  this  early  contact  with  a  man  who 
had  been  educated  at  Cambridge  and  who  had  been 
attached  to  the  gay  court  of  Elizabeth.  And  we 
can  as  little  question  that  Brewster,  on  his  part, 
was  but  too  well  pleased  with  a  pupil  of  Bradford's 
aptitude  and  promise. 

In  1606  the  Puritans,  even  in  such  country 
places  as  Scrooby,  were  made  to  feel  the  heavy 
hand  of  the  prelatical  authorities. '  Many  of  the 
clergy  were  driven  from  their  charges,  and  among 
them  Richard  Clifton.  There  were  still  around 
Scrooby  a  few  members  of  the  Separatist  congre- 
gation which  had  fled  from  Gainsborough.  With 
these  Brewster  and  his  friends  joined  and  with  Clif- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  ENGLAND  a  7 

ton  as  pastor,  a  Separatist  Church  was  formed. 
As  junior  pastor,  one  John  Robinson,  a  Master  of 
Arts  and  Bachelor  of  Divinity  from  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge,  was  shortly  after  secured,  and 
he  is  credited  with  having  been  "  the  most  learned, 
polished  and  modest  spirit "  ever  connected  with 
the  Independent  movement. 

At  first,  meetings  were  held  in  the  ancient  Episco- 
pal manor  house  which  was  then  transformed  into 
the  post-station.  But  the  congregation  was  not  to 
be  left  at  peace.  Informants  were  not  wanting,  and 
by  the  autumn  of  1607  this  church,  like  its  predeces- 
sor, had  found  its  one  hope  for  survival  lay  in 
flight  to  Holland.  But  even  that  flight  must  be 
secret,  for  the  King,  to  prevent  such  emigrations, 
had  closed  all  ports  against  whoever  had  no  license 
to  depart. 

A  ship  was  hired  to  take  on  the  fugitives  at  Bos- 
ton, forty  miles  from  Scrooby.  But  the  captain 
proved  them  false,  bargained  with  the  officers,  and 
delivered  the  people  over  to  the  authorities  by 
whom  they  were  robbed  of  well  nigh  all  they  had 
and  turned  away,  with  exception  of  seven  of  the 
leaders,  after  a  month's  imprisonment. 

A  second  attempt  at  flight,  in  the  spring  of  1608, 
was  even  less  happy.  A  Dutch  captain  was  bribed 


a8  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

to  embark  the  congregation  at  Grimsby  Common, 
a  tract  of  vacant  land  near  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Humber.  A  single  boat-load,  among  whom  was 
Bradford,  had  been  taken  aboard  when  an  armed 
posse  appeared  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives.  The  cap- 
tain of  the  vessel,  in  fear,  and  despite  the  pleadings 
of  those  on  board,  hoisted  his  sails  and  fled.  A 
storm  arose  and  carried  the  ship  so  far  out  of  her 
course  as  the  shores  of  Norway,  but  eventually  she 
reached  Holland.  But  the  main  part  of  the  con- 
gregation was  still  in  England.  At  the  approach 
of  the  posse  the  men  had  fled,  as  only  thus  could 
they  be  saved  from  imprisonment  and  their  little 
property  from  ruinous  fines.  The  women  and  chil- 
dren, after  enduring  the  process  of  what  then 
passed  for  justice,  were  allowed  to  go  free. 

It  was  seen  that  the  church  could  not  emigrate 
in  a  body,  and  other  tactics  were  resorted  to.  Sin- 
gly and  by  families  they  were  smuggled  out  of  Eng- 
land, Clifton,  Brewster  and  Robinson  being  the 
last  to  go,  and  finally,  in  August,  the  self-expatri- 
ated band  were  reunited  in  Amsterdam.  Here  was 
completed  the  first  stadium  of  their  Pilgrimage, 
and  here  'began  the  second  epoch  in  their  history. 


CHAPTER.    II. 
PILGRIMS     IN    HOLLAND. 

N  1608  the  Dutch  Republic  was  just 
entering  upon  its  twelve  years  truce  in 
the  long  war  with  Spain,  and  its  cities, 
prosperous  even  in  war  time,  were 
rapidly  growing  in  wealth  and  com- 
mercial importance.  At  that  period 
the  industrial  skill,  learning  and  civil- 
ization of  Western  Europe  were  large- 
ly centered  in  the  Low  Countries,  and 
especially  in  manufactures  did  the  Hollanders  ex- 
cel. But  years  of  war  had  weakened  the  industrial 
forces  of  the  country,  and  on  this  account,  as  well 
as  because  Spanish  intolerance  had  taught  the 
Dutch  people  the  value  of  religious  liberty,  refugees 
from  England  were  welcome  immigrants  in  their 
cities.  f 

When  the  Scrooby  congregation  reached  Am- 
sterdam —  to  them,  raw  countrymen  as  most  of 
them  were,  a  veritable  city  of  marvels  —  they 
found  two  Separatist  churches  already  established 


3o  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

there.  One  of  these,  presided  over  by  Pastor  John- 
son, assisted  by  Henry  Ainsworth,  the  foremost 
Hebrew  scholar  of  the  time,  had  been  banished 
from  London  in  1593.  The  other  was  the  congre- 
gation which  had  emigrated  from  Gainsborough. 

At  first  the  new-comers  purposed  settling  in 
Amsterdam.  But  it  shortly  developed  that  their 
brethren  were  not  wholly  at  peace  with  one  an- 
other, nor  altogether  in  sympathy  with  them.  The 
larger  church  was  split  into  factions,  the  quarrel 
centering  about  the  apparel  of  Pastor  Johnson's 
wife.  The  more  zealous  members  were  sore  morti- 
fied that  she  should  affect  such  vanities  as  stays 
and  starch,  and  a  velvet  hood  was  esteemed  a  ver- 
itable gage  of  the  devil.  At  the  same  time  the  pas- 
tor of  the  church  from  Gainsborough,  the  Rev. 
John  Smith,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the  spirit  of 
toleration  which  animated  Robinson  and  his  peo- 
ple. The  latter,  therefore,  deemed  it  best  to  remove 
from  the  scene  of  discord;  and  in  May  of  1609, 
permission  to  immigrate  having  been  obtained 
from  the  city  of  Leyden,  they  removed  thither.  But 
in  Amsterdam  they  left  Clifton,  worn  out  at  the 
age  of  fifty-six ;  and  doubtless  some  few  of  the  con- 
gregation remained  with  him. 

Leyden  was  at  that  time  the  second  city  in  im- 


PILGRIMS  IN  HOLLAND  3 1 

portance  in  free  Holland.  Its  manufactures  were 
largely  of  textile  fabrics,  especially  linen  and 
woolen  goods,  but  it  was  also  a  great  centre  for 
the  printing  of  books,  and  its  university,  gift  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  was-  already  drawing  stu- 
dents from  foreign  lands.  While  unskilled  labor 
was  here  less  in  demand  than  in  the  great  seaport 
which  they  had  left,  still  there  was  little  difficulty 
in  securing  employment,  and  the  members  of  the 
Pilgrim  band  were  soon  comfortably  established  in 
their  new  abode.  For  the  most  part  they  set  about 
acquiring  handicrafts. 

Bradford  apprenticed  himself  to  a  baize-maker, 
eventually  carrying  on  the  manufacture  of  baize  in 
his  own  right.  Elder  Brewster's  son,  Jonathan, 
became  a  ribbon  weaver;  John  Tilly  worked  in  silk, 
and  William  White,  Robert  Cushman  and  others, 
in  wool;  Degory  Priest  was  a  hatter;  John  Jenny  a 
brewer;  and  William  Jepson  and  Francis  Eaton 
took  up  carpentering.  It  is  hard  at  this  late  day  to 
say  what  this  education  in  practical  industries  must 
have  meant  to  the  New  World  colonists  later  on, 
but  it  is  certain  that  no  better  training  could  have 
been  devised  for  them.  They  were  already  farmers, 
and  now  they  were  acquiring  first-hand  knowledge 
of  the  most  advanced  industrial  methods  of  their 


3  a  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

day.  And  even  if  there  was  to  be  no  immediate 
call  for  the  exercise  of  the  handicrafts  they  were 
acquiring,  in  the  wilderness  which  they  were  to 
settle,  still  the  broadening  influence  of  their  train- 
ing could  not  but  have  increased  their  resource- 
fulness and  adaptability  many  fold. 

William  Brewster  early  came  in  contact  with  the 
University  of  Leyden,  where  he  found  employment 
teaching  English  to  Dutch  and  Danish  students. 
In  connection  with  this  work  he  wrote  one  of  the 
first  grammars  of  the  English  language,  modeled 
after  the  Latin  grammar  of  the  period.  And  both 
he  and  John  Robinson,  the  pastor,  soon  matricu- 
lated in  the  University  as  students,  the  one  of  liter- 
ature and  the  other  of  theology.  This  afterwards 
proved  of  no  small  advantage  to  Brewster,  for  Uni- 
versity membership  carried  with  it  a  number  of 
privileges, — 'among  others  freedom  in  publication 
and  immunity  from  arrest  except  by  the  officers  of 
the  University  —  privileges  which  served  him  well 
when  later  King  James  sought  to  lay  hold  on  him. 

In  their  new  home  the  Pilgrims  prospered  to 
such  an  extent  that  in  two  years  (May,  1611)  four 
of  their  number  —  John  Robinson,  William  Jepson, 
Henry  Wood,  and  Randolph  Tickens  —  were  able 
to  purchase  house  and  land  almost  under  the  walls 


PILGRIMS  IN  HOLLAND  33 

of  Leyclen  University.  It  is  probable  that  these 
four  were  merely  agents  for  the  whole  community, 
for  houses  were  erected  upon  the  vacant  land,  the 
original  being  the  pastor's  home  and  meeting- 
house,—  to  accommodate  them  all.  At  the  present 
day  the  site  is  occupied  by  a  French  Protestant 
church,  but  a  marble  slab  still  commemorates  Pas- 
tor Robinson,  who  died  there  in  1625. 

In  1616  Brewster  set  up  a  printing  establish- 
ment, possibly  in  partnership  with  one  Thomas 
Brewer.  During  the  three  years  of  its  existence 
about  fifteen  books  and  pamphlets  were  issued 
from  this  press.  Most  of  these  were  for  the  propa- 
gation of  religious  ideas,  in  England  esteemed 
nothing  short  of  incendiary.  Especially  was  this 
true  of  certain  pamphlets  criticising  King  James's 
religious  polity.  As  the  books  attained  a  wide  cir- 
culation in  London  and  elsewhere  in  England,  it 
was  not  long  before  determined  effort  was  made  by 
the  English  authorities  to  stem  the  tide  of  insubor- 
dinate literature  at  its  source. 

At  first  Brewster's  University  membership  saved 
him  from  the  clutches  of  the  English  ambassador, 
but  the  Dutch  were  anxious  to  strengthen  their  alli- 
ance with  King  James,  and  when  the  English  in- 
sisted, permitted  the  seizure  and  confiscation  of 


34  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Brewster's  printing  effects.  Fortunately  Brewster 
himself  was  in  London  at  the  time,  the  summer  of 
1619,  and  so  escaped.  But  his  printing  was  at  an 
end. 

It  was  while  Brewster  was  still  in  the  printing 
business,  in  1617,  that  he  took  into  his  office  Ed- 
ward Winslow,  a  young  Englishman  of  education, 
who,  visiting  Leyden,  had  cast  in  his  lot  with  Rob- 
inson's congregation.  Perhaps  the  charms  of 
Elizabeth  Barker  had  most  to  do  with  this  move, 
for  the  next  year  she  was  married  to  Winslow. 

Another  addition  to  the  company  during  their 
sojourn  in  Leyden,  and  one  who  was  to  be  of  no 
small  value  to  them  in  the  New  World,  was  Cap- 
tain Myles  Standish.  Captain  Standish  had  been 
commissioned  in  his  youth  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to 
serve  with  the  English  troops  which  she  sent  to  the 
aid  of  Holland.  He  had  probably  lived  there  from 
that  time  on.  Of  a  keen,  fiery  disposition,  restive 
under  any  restraint  save  the  military,  but  a  soldier 
to  the  crest  of  his  morion,  it  is  difficult  to  see  just 
what  it  was  in  the  Pilgrim  community  which  drew 
him  to  them. 

More  than  likely  the  ill-starred  Rose,  his  first 
wife,  was  of  the  company,  and  he,  as  Winslow, 
was  conquered  by  Cupid,  even  more  puissant  than 


PILGRIMS  IN  HOLLAND  35 

Mars.  Mrs.  Stowe,  in  her  delicious  Phineas 
Fletcher,  has  given  us  a  rough  modern  counterpart 
of  the  good  captain's  first  romance. 

Intermarriage  brought  others  beside  Winslow 
and  Standish  into  the  community.  Not  only  did 
the  young  men  take  them  wives  from  among  their 
English  co-religionists  in  Amsterdam,  but  not  a 
few  of  them  found  the  buxom  maids  of  Holland 
and  the  dark-eyed  daughters  of  French  Huguenots 
—  refugees  like  themselves  —  fair  in  their  eyes. 
Altogether  there  are  no  fewer  than  fifty  marriages 
recorded  for  the  company  during  their  twelve  years 
stay  in  Holland  —  a  promising  record  for  a  church 
numbering  not  more  than  three  hundred  communi- 
cants in  its  best  period. 

But  the  marryings  in  were  counterweighed  by 
marryings  out.  And  the  more  adventurous  of  the 
young  men  were  enlisting  in  the  Dutch  army  or 
seeking  service  in  her  merchant  marine.  The  chil- 
dren, too,  were  growing  up  with  Dutch  notions  of 
morality, —  and  Continental  moral  ideals  have  ever 
been  more  lax  than  English.  In  these  symptoms 
the  graver  heads  of  the  community  saw  signs  of 
the  gradual  absorption  of  their  people  into  the 
Dutch  nationality.  Now  they  had  never  ceased  to 
be  English  in  sentiment  and  sympathy,  and  their 


36  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

dearest  wish  was  to  be  able  to  live  under  the  ban- 
ner of  St.  George. 

When  we  add  to  these  considerations  the  fact 
that  with  all  their  industry  and  sobriety  there  was 
no  prospect  for  any  permanent  improvement  in 
their  condition,  that  in  Holland  they  who  in  Eng- 
land had  largely  been  free  farmers  were  condemned 
to  remain  hand-workers  and  wage-earners  —  the 
class  first  like  to  suffer  in  the  war  that  was  about 
to  break  out  afresh  between  Holland  and  Spain; 
in  view  of  all  this,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  shortly 
set  about  planning  a  new  Pilgrimage. 

This  time  their  eyes  were  turned  toward  the  New 
World.  In  1618  an  attempt  was  made  through  the 
Virginia  Company  to  secure  from  King  James  a 
charter  permitting  them  to  settle  in  its  territory. 
Nothing  came  of  it.  A  second  attempt  was  frus- 
trated by  prelatical  objection  to  the  Congrega- 
tional mode  of  church  government.  But  James 
was  not  at  all  averse  to  having  his  trans-Atlantic 
domain  developed  by  a  colony  that  so  fairly  prom- 
ised self-support  and  prosperity,  especially  in  view 
of  previous  expensive  failures,  and  when  the  seven 
articles  acknowledging  his  sovereignty  and  author- 
ity and  subscribing  to  the  creed  of  the  Church  of 
England  had  been  received  from  the  church  in  Ley- 


PILGRIMS  IN  HOLLAND  37 

den,  a  patent  was  at  length  issued  permitting  them 
to  settle  in  the  northernmost  part  of  Virginia,  then 
extending  to  Long  Island  Sound. 

There  were  yet  delays.  But  finally  one  Thomas 
Weston  of  London  formed  a  company  of  mer- 
chants who  were  to  furnish  the  money  for  the  expe- 
dition, and  at  the  end  of  seven  years  receive  one- 
half  of  all  the  properties  acquired  by  the  settlers. 
These  men,  who  entered  into  the  project  as  a  spec- 
ulation, were  styled  "  the  adventurers,"  and  arti- 
cles of  agreement  between  them  and  the  Pilgrims 
were  drawn  up  and  signed. 

Nbt  all  of  the  Leyden  church  were  to  go.  Only 
some  four  score  of  the  more  youthful  and  vigorous 
were  to  embark.  The  majority  of  the  congrega- 
tion, with  Pastor  Robinson,  remained  in  Holland, 
—  some  to  follow  in  later  expeditions,  some  to  end 
their  days  there.  But  when,  on  or  near  the  last 
day  of  July,  1620,  the  colonists  loaded  their  goods 
upon  canal  boats  and  proceeded  along  the  water- 
ways of  green  Holland  to  Delftshaven,  where  the 
sixty-ton  pinnace  "  Speedwell  "  waited  to  take  them 
to  England,  Robinson  and  his  whole  congregation 
accompanied  them. 

At  Delftshaven  passed  the  day  and  the  night  of 
the  parting.  There  was  religious  service  and  coun- 


38  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

selings;  there  was  a  farewell  banquet  given  to  those 
departing  by  their  brethren  who  were  to  remain; 
there  were  tears  and  sorrow  as  well,  for  many  a 
parting  was  to  be  the  last.  And  so,  wrote  Gov- 
ernor Bradford,  who  was  of  the  departing  band, 
"  they  left  that  goodly  and  pleasant  city  which  had 
been  their  resting-place  near  twelve  years ;  but  they 
knew  that  they  were  Pilgrims,  and  looked  not 
much  on  those  things,  but  lifted  up  their  eyes  to 
the  heavens,  their  dearest  country,  and  quieted 
their  spirits." 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  THE  M AYFLOWER 

HE  Speedwell,  according  to  the  design 
of    the  Adventurers,  was    to  remain 
with  the  new  colony;  and  her  crew, 
under    Captain    Reynolds,    had    been 
hired  for  one  year.     First  she  was  to 
proceed   to   Southampton   and   there, 
joining    the  Mayflower,  start    on  the 
long  voyage  across  the  ocean.     This 
stage  of  the  journey  was  accomplished 
without  incident,  and  the  wanderers  were  soon  in 
the  presence  of  the  vessel  which  their  Pilgrimage 
was  to  make  famous. 

The  Mayflower  was  rated  at  a  hundred  and 
eighty  tons, —  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons, 
modern  rating.  Yet  for  those  days  she  was  ac- 
counted a  fine  ship.  In  all  England  there  were  not 
then  many  vessels  of  two  hundred  tons,  and  the 
Mayflower  was  larger  than  most  ships  crossing  the 
Atlantic.  Her  master  was  Captain  Jones,  a  sea- 
faring gentleman  of  piratical  antecedents,  but 
familiar  with  American  coasts  and  waters. 


40  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

At  Southampton  the  Pilgrims  were  joined  by  a 
small  company  who  had  cast  their  lot  with  the  new 
venture,  among  them  young  John  Alden,  who  was 
to  play  such  a  large  role  in  the  future  of  the  colony. 
These,  with  some  of  the  brethren  who  had  been  in 
England,  were  already  on  the  Mayflower, —  just 
laden  for  her  departure.  Ninety  of  the  new-comers 
were  taken  on  the  larger  vessel,  with  John  Carver 
as  their  governor,  while  thirty,  William  Martin  be- 
ing governor,  remained  on  the  Speedwell. 

But  the  time  of  setting  forth  was  yet  delayed. 
There  were  modifications  in  the  Articles  of  Agree- 
ment which  Weston,  who  had  engineered  the  enter- 
prise, wished  to  force  upon  the  colonists  to  their 
disadvantage  and  the  company's  greater  profit. 
When  he  found  that  the  Pilgrims  would  not  submit 
to  petty  tyranny,  he  left  them  in  a  rage  to  "  stand 
upon  their  own  legs."  This  forced  them  to  pay 
port  charges,  and  it  was  only  by  selling  most  of 
their  supply  of  butter  that  they  were  able  to  clear 
the  port,  and  even  then  they  were  left  with  inade- 
quate outfittings. 

But  on  August  fifteen,  1620,  the  two  vessels  put 
to  sea.  Four  days  out,  Captain  Reynolds  of  the 
Speedwell  reported  his  ship  as  leaking  dangerously. 
Accordingly  they  bore  up  for  Dartmouth  and  spent 


THE  VOYA GE  OF  THE  MA  YFLOWER  4 1 

ten  days  at  that  port  discharging,  repairing  and 
restowing  the  Speedwell,  although  no  serious  dam- 
age was  discovered.  The  voyage  was  resumed,  but 
three  hundred  miles  beyond  Land's  End  Reynolds 
again  reported  a  leak,  and  forced  the  company  to 
put  back  to  Plymouth.  There  the  vessel  was  again 
overhauled,  but  no  special  leak  found. 

Reynolds  and  his  crew,  however,  refused  to  take 
her  to  the  New  World,  and  as  the  season  was  ad- 
vancing it  was  determined  to  send  her  back  to  Lon- 
don and  to  proceed  on  the  voyage  without  her. 
Eighteen  of  her  passengers  went  back  with  her, 
but  twelve  were  crowded  into  the  Mayflower;  and 
for  the  third  time  the  good  ship  headed  westward. 

This  was  on  September  sixteen.  The  passengers 
were  all  in  good  health,  excepting  for  temporary 
seasickness,  and  there  is  a  story  handed  down  that 
one  of  the  crew  who  used  to  rail  at  and  curse  them 
while  in  this  condition,  expressing  the  hope  that  he 
might  have  the  privilege  of  throwing  their  bodies 
into  the  sea,  died  very  shortly  after  the  voyage  was 
begun.  In  their  comrade's  fate  his  fellows  took 
warning. 

At  first  fair  weather  favored  the  voyagers,  but 
about  midway  of  the  Atlantic  the  Mayflower  en- 
countered a  succession  of  severe  storms.  During 


42  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

one  of  these  storms  a  beam  amidship  was  sprung. 
The  sailors,  in  alarm,  were  for  turning  back  to 
England.  But  it  was  as  far  to  Europe  as  to  Amer- 
ica. At  this  juncture  a  carpenter  of  the  colonists 
came  to  the  rescue.  He  had  brought  from  Holland 
a  jack-screw,  an  implement  hardly  known  among 
the  English  of  the  time,  and  with  the  aid  of  this 
the  damage  was  repaired  and  the  ship  continued 
on  her  course. 

But  the  voyage  was  not  without  its  haps  and 
mishaps.  The  continuous  stormy  weather  kept  the 
passengers  cooped  below  decks  most  of  the  time, 
and  on  one  occasion  John  Rowland,  finding  the 
confinement  irksome,  ventured  above.  In  the  roll 
of  the  ship  he  was  thrown  overboard.  Fortunately 
the  coil  of  the  topsail  halyard  was  trailing  in  the 
sea.  Howland  caught  this  and  was  finally  drawn 
aboard.  There" was  one  death  among  the  Pilgrims 
during  the  voyage.  This  was  of  William  Button, 
servant  or  apprentice  to  Dr.  Fuller,  the  company's 
physician.  Button  died  November  sixteen,  but 
Oceanus  Hopkins,  son  to  Stephen  and  Elizabeth 
Hopkins,  was  born  at  sea, —  and  so  the  tale  of  the 
colonists  remained  the  same. 

On  the  morning  of  November  twenty,  land  was 
sighted.  Beautifully  wooded  hills  were  seen  sloping 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  THE  MAYFLOWER  43 

down  to  the  waters  of  the  sea  —  a  welcome  vision 
after  more  than  two  months  of  ocean  monotone. 
Captain  Jones  recognized  the  land  as  Cape  Cod, 
which  was  already  well  known  to  mariners  and  had 
been  charted  by  Captain  John  Smith  and  others. 

Finding  that  the  Mayflower  was  far  north  of  her 
destination,  her  course  was  changed,  and  for  half 
a  day  she  headed  southward.  The  only  result  was 
a  baffled  search  for  a  passage  through  the  shoals 
and  currents  off  the  elbow  of  the  Cape,  and  Captain 
Jones  professed  himself  unable  to  find  a  safe 
course  to  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson. 

A  consultation  was  held  among  the  leaders. 
Winter  was  drawing  on  and  many  of  the  company 
began  already  to  show  signs  of  the  disease  which 
was  soon  to  cut  in  half  their  number.  It  was  de- 
cided that  a  landing  must  be  effected  as  early  as 
possible,  even  if  they  were  forced  to  abandon  their 
project  of  settling  within  the  territory  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Company.  Accordingly  the  Mayflower  put 
about  and  headed  for  Cape  Cod  Harbor,  where  now 
is  Provincetown. 

It  was  held  as  early  as  1669  that  Jones  had  been 
hired  by  the  Dutch  to  break  his  agreement  and 
carry  the  colonists  far  north  of  the  Dutch  prov- 
ince of  Manhattan.  In  that  vear  Nathaniel  Mor- 


44  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

ton,  secretary  of  Plymouth  Colony,  professes  to 
have  "  late  and  certain  intelligence  "  to  this  effect. 
But  neither  Bradford  nor  Winslow  make  mention 
of  any  such  fraud  or  suspicion  of  it,  and  it  is  now 
generally  believed  that  stormy  weather  had  more 
to  do  with  the  settling  of  New  England  than  provi- 
dential Dutchmen. 

Their  change  of  destination  created  a  new  prob- 
lem for  the  Pilgrims.  Settlements  in  that  day  were 
all  under  some  form  of  patent,  grant  or  charter, 
and  these  furnished  their  legal  basis  and  fixed  their 
status  with  reference  to  the  home  government.  In 
landing  north  of  the  forty-first  parallel  the  colonists 
were  placing  themselves  beyond  the  scope  and  pro- 
tection of  the  King's  patent.  Although  James,  in 
a  general  way,  asserted  sovereignty  over  it,  New 
England  was  then  practically  no  man's  land,  and 
settlers  landing  there  without  patent  or  grant  could 
form  nothing  but  a  foundling  colony. 

But  the  Pilgrims  were  equal  to  the  emergency. 
The  men  gathered  together  in  the  cabin  of  the 
Mayflower  and  drew  up  and  signed  the  famous 
Compact  which  was  to  serve  as  the  legal  basis  of 
their  emprise.  This  Compact,  which  John  Quincy 
Adams  described  as  "  perhaps  the  only  instance  in 
human  history  of  that  positive,  original  social  com- 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  THE  MAYFLOWER  45 

pact  which  speculative  philosophers  have  imagined 
as  the  only  legitimate  source  of  government,"  ran 
as  follows: 

In  ye  name  of  God,  Amen !  We  whose  names  are 
under-writen,  the  loyall  subjects  of  our  dread 
soveraigne  Lord,  King  James,  by  ye  grace  of  God, 
of  Great  Britaine,  Franc,  &  Ireland  king,  defender 
of  ye  faith,  etc.,  having  undertaken,  for  ye  glorie 
of  God  and  advancement  of  ye  Christian  faith,  and 
honour  of  our  king  and  countrie,  a  voyage  to  plant 
ye  first  colonie  in  ye  Northerne  parts  of  Virginia, 
doe  by  these  presents  solemnly  and  mutualy  in  ye 
presence  of  God,  and  one  of  another,  covenant  and 
combine  ourselves  togeather  into  a  civill  body  poli- 
tick, for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation  and 
furtherance  of  ye  ends  aforesaid;  and  by  virtue 
hereof  to  enacte,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just 
and  equall  lawes,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions, 
and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought 
most  meete  and  convenient  for  ye  generall  good 
of  ye  Colonie,  unto  which  we  promise  all  due  sub- 
mission and  obedience. 

In  witness  wherof  we  have  hereunder  subscribed 
our  names  at  Cap-Codd  ye  II.  of  November,  in  ye 
year  of  ye  raigne  of  our  soveraigne  lord,  King 
James,  of  England,  France,  &  Ireland  ye  eight- 


46  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

eenth,  and  of  Scotland  ye  fiftie-fourth.  An.  Dom. 
1620. 

The  signers  of  this  compact  were:  John  Car- 
ver, William  Bradford,  Edward  Winslow,  William 
Brewster,  Isaac  Allerton,  Myles  Standish,  John 
Alden,  Samuel  Fuller,  Christopher  Martin,  William 
Mullins,  William  White,  Richard  Warren,  John 
Rowland,  Stephen  Hopkins,  Edward  Tilley,  John 
Tilley,  Francis  Cook,  Thomas  Rogers,  Thomas 
Tinker,  John  Rigdale,  Edward  Fuller,  John 
Turner,  Francis  Eaton,  James  Chilton,  John  Crack- 
ston,  John  Billington,  Moses  Fletcher,  John  Good- 
man, Degory  Priest,  Thomas  Williams,  Gilbert 
Winslow,  Edmund  Margeson,  Peter  Brown,  Rich- 
ard Britteridge,  George  Soule,  Richard  Clarke, 
Richard  Gardiner,  John  Allerton,  Thomas  English, 
Edward  Dotey,  Edward  Lister. 

While  the  foundations  of  the  new  colony — aye, 
of  a  new  nation!  —  were  thus  being  laid,  the  vessel 
had  rounded  the  point  of  the  Cape  and  come  to 
anchor  within  a  mile  of  the  site  of  Provincetown. 
.  This  was  on  the  twenty-first  of  November,  1620. 
More  than  a  hundred  days  had  elapsed  since  the 
departure  from  Delftshaven:  ninety-nine  from 
Southampton;  and  sixty-seven  since  Plymouth  had 
faded  from  their  view.  The  voyage  of  the  May- 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  THE  MA  YFLOWER  47 

flower  was  at  an  end,  and  the  New  World  was 
before  them. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
PILGRIMS     IN     AMERICA. 

T  WAS  fortunate  that  the  winter  of 
1620-1621  was  exceptionally  mild. 
Had  it  been  severe  it  is  not  likely  that 
the  Pilgrim  colony  would  have  sur- 
vived it;  for  the  long  sea  voyage,  the 
bad  air  of  cabin  life,  and  a  surfeit  of 
salt  food,  had  so  undermined  the 
health  of  most  of  the  company  that 
there  was  left  little  strength  to  withstand  the  rigors 
of  harsh  winter  weather.  Even  as  it  was  the  deaths 
were  all  too  many. 

The  condition  of  their  people  made  the  Pilgrim 
leaders  anxious  to  land  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
they  immediately  set  about  preparing  expeditions 
to  explore  the  coast  for  a  suitable  location  for  their 
settlement.  While  a  sloop  which  had  been 
brought,  in  pieces,  between  decks,  was  being  set 
up,  a  land  exploration  under  Captain  Standish  was 
undertaken.  The  company  consisted  of  twenty 
men,  each  armed  with  sword  and  musket,  and  it 
started  on  its  venture  November  twenty-five,  1620. 
After  journeying  a  mile  along  the  shore  the  men 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA  49 

saw  the  first  Indians  encountered  —  a  band  of  five 
or  six,  who  fled  at  their  approach. 

The  first  day  of  their  journey  was  without  other 
event.  On  the  twenty-sixth  their  earliest  dis- 
covery of  importance  was  of  a  number  of  springs 
of  fresh  water  in  the  valley  where,  in  after  time, 
stood  the  village  of  East  Harbor.  They  had  been 
without  drink  since  leaving  the  Mayflower  and 
suffered  much  from  thirst.  Later  in  the  day  they 
discovered  sassafras  —  a  plant  at  that  time  much 
valued  in  Europe  for  medicinal  purposes  —  and 
signs  of  both  Indian  and  European  habitation. 
The  latter  consisted  of  the  remains  of  a  house, 
and  a  great  ship's  kettle,  indicating  that  the  in- 
habitants had  been  sailors.  It  was  near  this  ruin 
that  they  found  cached  several  bushels  of  maize. 
It  was  the  first  they  had  seen,  and  the  finding  was 
really  providential,  for  it  was  from  this  corn  that 
the  first  Plymouth  crop  was  planted.  The  ex- 
plorers with  a  little  hesitation,  took  possession  of 
the  find,  stowing  it  in  the  great  kettle  for  trans- 
portation. Later  on  the  Indian  owner  was  paid 
double  value  for  his  loss.  They  continued  their  jour- 
ney as  far  as  the  Pamet  River,  where  they  found 
further  token  of  European  occupation  in  the  shape 
of  a  rude  fortification.  Burdened  as  they  were,  it 


5o  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

was  useless  to  continue  the  advance,  so  at  this 
point  they  turned  back  toward  the  vessel.  After  a 
night  of  rainy  encampment  the  party  concealed  the 
burdensome  kettle  of  corn,  put  in  order  the  mus- 
kets dampened  by  the  rain,  and  marched  shipward. 
They  reached  the  Mayflower's  landing-place  early 
in  the  evening. 

It  was  yet  ten  days  before  the  shallop  was  ready 
for  coast-wise  exploration.  When  on  Monday, 
December  seven,  it  at  length  put  off,  Captain  Jones 
in  his  long  boat  accompanied,  and  was  made  leader 
of  the  expedition.  Almost  at  once  stormy  weather 
was  encountered,  and  the  party  put  into  East  Har- 
bor for  the  night.  In  a  freezing  snow  storm  they 
marched  overland  several  miles  in  search  of  shel- 
ter and  a  number  caught  the  beginnings  of  their 
death-illness  from  this  exposure. 

The  next  day  they  proceeded  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Pamet  River.  The  land  which  it  drained  was 
explored  to  within  a  mile  of  the  Atlantic,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  party  were  in  favor  of  settling  on  this 
stream.  The  brackishness  of  the  water,  however, 
and  the  shallowness  of  the  harbor,  were  considera- 
tions of  sufficient  weight  to  cause  the  majority  to 
vote  for  a  continuance  of  the  explorations.  The 
corn,  concealed  by  the  first  expedition,  together 


PILGRIMS  IN  A MBRICA  5 1 

with  an  added  supply  which  was  discovered,  was 
sent  to  the  Mayflower  in  charge  of  Captain  Jones, 
returning. 

The  body  of  the  expedition  spent  some  further 
time  in  searching  out  the  country,  and  again  found 
traces  both  of  white  and  Indian  occupation,  the 
former  being  this  time  the  remains  of  a  sailor 
buried  with  aboriginal  honors.  But  although 
the  Pilgrims  were  anxious  to  establish  communi- 
cation with  the  natives,  none  of  these  were  to  be 
found,  and  on  December  tenth  the  expedition 
returned  to  the  Mayflower.  During  their  absence 
had  been  born  Peregrine  White,  the  first  native 
Yankee,  who  was  to  live  to  the  good  old  age  of 
four  score  and  four.  Doubtless  he  was  a  much- 
coddled  youngster. 

Before  the  third  exploration  was  under  way 
death  had  begun  its  dark  ministration.  On  the 
fourteenth  Edward  Thompson,  who  was  in  service 
to  the  father  of  baby  Peregrine,  passed  away,  and 
on  the  sixteenth,  when  the  explorers  started  forth, 
Jasper  More  was  dying.  Ere  the  party  should 
return,  Dorothy  Bradford,  whose  husband  was  of 
the  explorers,  was  to  have  sunk  beneath  the 
waves,  and  James  Chilton  to  have  closed  his  eyes 
forever.  And  these  were  only  the  first  of  the  win- 
ter's victims. 


5  2  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

The  members  of  the  second  expedition  had 
sighted  the  hill  Manomet  on  the  south  side  of 
Plymouth  Harbor.  One  Coppin,  a  sailor,  who 
had  been  upon  the  coast  before,  vaguely  remem- 
bered a  harbor  which  he  thought  might  lie  beyond 
this  hill.  Accordingly  Manomet  was  made  the 
objective  point  of  the  new  exploration. 

With  the  cold  was  again  their  first  toil;  for  two 
of  the  eighteen  men  were  overcome  by  it  while  the 
party  was  battling  with  head-winds  and  acquiring 
the  armor  of  ice  with  which  the  freezing  spray 
encoated  them;  they  were  able,  with  some  diffi- 
culty, to  effect  a  landing  and  encamp  for  the  night. 
Several  Indians  were  seen  busied  with  a  stranded 
grampus,  but  these  ran  away  when  the  shallop 
approached. 

A  strict  watch  was  kept  during  the  night,  al- 
though the  company  was  not  disturbed.  The  next 
day  the  men  divided,  ten  by  land  and  eight  by  boat 
exploring  Wellfleet  Bay.  At  night  the  two  parties 
again  came  together  and  encamped  once  more  on 
Eastham  beach.  It  was  in  the  early  dawn  that 
they  were  roused  by  one  of  their  comrades  with 
the  cry  of  "Indians!  Indians!"  The  war-cry  of 
the  savages  even  then  mingled  with  the  sentinel's 
alarm. 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA 53 

Most  of  the  men  had  left  their  muskets  in  the 
shallop,  and  now  ran  for  them  fighting  off  the 
savages  with  their  swords;  but  Standish  and  three 
others  had  their  guns  by  them  and  opened  fire. 
A  sharp  skirmish  ensued  before  the  Indians  were 
driven  off,  but  none  of  the  explorers  were  hurt. 
The  place  of  the  encampment  was  thenceforth 
called  "The  First  Encounter." 

Putting  to  sea  once  more  the  party  fell  in  with 
rough  water  and  snow.  The  rudder  hinges  were 
broken  and  the  steering  had  to  be  done  by  oar. 
The  mast  broke,  too,  and  carried  the  sail  over- 
board. Still  they  held  on  their  course  and  late  in 
the  day  made  the  entrance  of  Rymouth  Harbor 
(this  name  had  already  been  given  it  by  Captain 
John  Smith).  Here  Coppin,  the  pilot,  was  dis- 
mayed to  find  the  place  altogether  strange  to  him, 
and  the  boat  was  very  near  destruction. 

The  cool  head  of  one  of  the  steersmen,  how- 
ever, saved  them,  and  a  landing  was  effected  on 
Clark's  Island,  so  called  after  the  sailor  who  was 
first  to  set  foot  on  shore.  The  next  day  was  Sat- 
urday, and  the  company  rested  on  the  island.  On 
Monday,  December  twenty-one,  the  first  landing 
was  made  on  Rymouth  Rock  and  the  site  of  the 
future  settlement  explored.  The  prime  require- 


54  PILGRIM  ALDBN 

ment  of  the  settlers  was  a  good  harbor,  and  this 
they  had  seen  that  Plymouth  afforded. 

But  they  also  desired  plenty  of  fresh  water,  fer- 
tile fields,  and  an  easily  defensible  position.  A 
survey  of  the  land  showed  all  of  these.  There 
were  broad  cornfields,  already  cleared  for  cultiva- 
tion, which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  Patuxet 
Indians  some  three  years  before.  Through  the 
fields  a  number  of  brooks  and  runlets  coursed  to 
the  sea,  affording  a  bountiful  supply  of  the  purest 
water. 

Finally  a  steep  hill,  over  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  high,  furnished  an  ideal  site  for  a  fort  which 
should  command  the  entire  reach  of  open  country 
round  about.  Well  satisfied  with  the  result  of 
their  search,  the  explorers  passed  one  more  night 
in  camp  and  then  hastened  back  to  the  waiting 
Mayflower. 

On  December  twenty-six,  after  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  the  day  before,  the  Mayflower  reached  her 
final  destination  and  dropped  anchor  in  Plymouth 
Harbor.  The  next  day  was  Sunday  and  there 
was  no  disembarking.  The  two  or  three  days  fol- 
lowing were  devoted  to  the  determining  of  the 
exact  site  of  the  future  village,  there  being  some 
difference  of  opinion  among  the  voters,  and  it  was 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA  55 

not  until  January  second  that  its  actual  laying  out 
and  building  was  begun. 

In  1627  De  Rasieres,  of  the  Dutch  colony  of 
Manhattan,  visited  and  described  Plymouth. 
"  New  Plymouth,"  he  wrote,  "  lies  on  the  slope  of 
a  hill,  stretching  east  toward  the  sea-coast,  with 
a  broad  street  about  a  cannon-shot  of  eight  hun- 
dred feet  long  leading  down  the  hill,  with  a  cross- 
ing in  the  middle,  northward  to  the  rivulet  and 
southward  to  the  land. 

"  The  houses  are  constructed  of  hewn  planks, 
with  gardens  also  enclosed  behind  and  at  the 
sides  with  hewn  planks,  so  that  their  houses  and 
courtyards  are  arranged  in  very  good  order,  with  a 
stockade  against  a  sudden  attack;  and  at  the  ends 
of  the  streets  there  are  three  wooden  gates.  In 
the  centre,  on  the  cross  street,  stands  the  Gov- 
ernor's house,  before  which  is  a  square  enclosure 
upon  which  four  pateros  are  mounted,  so  as  to 
flank  along  the  streets. 

"Upon  the  hill  they  have  a  large  square  house 
with  a  flat  roof,  made  of  thick  sawn  planks  stayed 
with  oak  beams,  upon  the  top  of  which  they  have 
six  cannons,  which  shoot  iron  balls  of  four  and  five 
pounds  and  command  the  surrounding  country. 
The  lower  part  they  use  for  their  church,  where 


5 6  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

they  preach  on  Sundays  and  the  usual  holidays." 
The  main  street,  now  Leyden  Street,  was  at  first 
called  simply  "The  Street."  The  first  building 
to  be  erected  upon  it  was  a  large  common  house, 
twenty  feet  square,  in  which,  on  January  thirty- 
one,  1621,  was  held  the  first  religious  worship  on 
shore,  of  the  whole  Pilgrim  band.  They  had  no 
minister  with  them,  but  Elder  Brewster  preached, 
then,  as  he  continued  to  do  for  several  years  to 
come.  The  palisade  and  fort  which  De  Rasieres 
mentions  were,  of  course,  not  constructed  this  first 
winter,  but  Fort  Hill  (now  Burial  Hill)  was  forti- 
fied and  the  cannon  mounted  there. 

The  building  of  the  settlement  was  not  uninter- 
rupted nor  uneventful.  On  the  contrary  it  was 
carried  on  under  the  severest  trials.  From  De- 
cember to  April  the  death  rate  averaged  four  a 
week.  By  January  first  there  had  been  six  deaths. 
During  that  month  there  were  eight  more.  In 
February  there  were  seventeen ;  in  March  thirteen ; 
and  during  the  rest  of  the  year  six.  One-half  of 
all  the  passengers  of  the  Mayflower  died  this  first 
year.  Nor  was  the  disease,  in  nearly  every  case 
pulmonary  consumption,  confined  to  the  passen- 
gers, for  a  large  part  of  the  men  under  Jones  were 
ill  also,  and  many  of  them  died. 


?  S 


2   v> 

5    > 


'    H 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA  5  7 

In  the  colony  at  one  time  there  were  only  seven 
well  persons,  among  them  Standish  and  Brewster, 
to  tend  their  fellows.  It  is  no  wonder  if  the  first 
house  erected,  converted  into  a  hospital,  but  feebly 
answered  the  need.  Among  the  last  to  die  was 
the  Colony's  first  governor,  John  Carver.  This 
was  in  April  after  the  planting  was  begun.  Wil- 
liam Bradford  was  elected  to  succeed  him,  and  was 
destined  to  fill  the  office  every  year  thereafter,  save 
three  only,  until  his  death  in  1657.  Before  the 
summer  of  1621  was  over  Mrs.  Carver  was  laid 
beside  her  husband.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  of 
the  eighteen  wives  and  mothers  in  the  Pilgrim 
band,  fourteen  were  among  the  first  winter's  dead. 

Friendly  relations  with  the  Indians  were  early 
established.  Stray  savages  had  been  seen  from 
time  to  time,  but  it  was  not  until  March  twenty- 
six  that  communication  was  actually  opened  with 
them.  On  that  day  an  Indian  walked  boldly  into 
the  settlement  and  greeted  the  colonists  with  the 
English  word  "Welcome!"  The  visitor  was  a 
Maine  Indian  named  Samoset  who  had  learned 
his  little  English  from  fishermen  on  the  Maine 
coast.  He  was  at  the  time  on  a  visit  to  the  Cape 
Indians. 

Through    Samoset   intercourse   was   established 


58  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

with  the  Sachem  Massasoit,  chief  of  the  confeder- 
ated tribes  of  Pokanoket  —  the  Indian  name  for 
all  the  territory  from  Narraganset  Bay  to  the  end 
of  Cape  Cod.  Indeed,  on  April  first,  Massasoit 
himself  visited  the  colony  and  was  induced  to  enter 
into  an  alliance  with  the  Pilgrims  and  to  take  an 
oath  of  allegiance  to  King  James. 

To  these  pledges  the  sachem  ever  remained  faith- 
ful, and  it  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that  Plymouth 
owed  her  early  prosperity,  if  not  her  very  existence, 
to  this  chieftain's  friendship.  The  friendship  of 
the  Indians  aided  the  colonists  in  yet  another  way, 
for  it  added  to  their  community  two  very  useful 
citizens,  Squantum,  or  Tisquantum,  and  Hobomok. 
The  first  of  these  had  been  to  England  on  a  trad- 
ing vessel  and  he  spoke  English  very  well.  It  was 
he  who  instructed  the  white  men  how  to  cultivate 
maize.  Hobomok  was  early  attached  to  the  house- 
hold of  Myles  Standish,  and  taught  the  redoubt- 
able captain  the  Indian  language.  Both  of  these 
savages  ended  their  days  with  the  whites. 

The  summer  of  1621  passed  peacefully  and  pros- 
perously. There  was  an  exploring  expedition 
which  went  as  far  as  Boston  Harbor;  there  were 
trading  trips  to  the  native  villages,  and  on  one 
occasion  Edward  Winslow  and  Stephen  Hopkins 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA  59 

made  a  diplomatic  visit  to  Massasoit.  But  for  the 
most  part  the  Pilgrims  stayed  at  home  and  tended 
their  crops,  which  flourished  accordingly. 

After  the  harvest,  was  held  the  first  New  Eng- 
land Thanksgiving.  Huntsmen  brought  in  a  sup- 
ply of  game ;  the  Indian  allies  of  the  colonists  were 
invited,  and  for  three  days  the  company  made 
merry  with  sports  and  feasting.  Late  in  Novem- 
ber of  this  year  came  the  ship  Fortune  bringing 
thirty-five  new  colonists,  for  the  most  part  young 
men.  As  these  had  brought  no  subsistence  with 
them,  their  support  was  foisted  upon  the  Colony. 
Owing  to  the  excellence  of  their  crops,  this  would 
have  proved  no  great  burden  to  the  settlers,  had 
promised  supplies  reached  them.  But  the  supplies 
were  not  sent,  and  before  the  next  summer  came 
the  colonists  were  reduced  by  their  generosity  to 
but  scanty  fare. 

Early  in  1622  came  rumors  of  trouble  with  the 
Narragansett  Indians.  Their  sachem,  Canonicus, 
sent  his  famous  war  gage,  a  sheaf  of  arrows  bound 
about  with  a  rattle-snake  skin,  to  Governor  Brad- 
ford, and  received  the  Governor's  significant  re- 
ply —  the  skin  filled  with  powder  and  shot.  This 
overawed  the  Indians  for  the  time,  but  the  settlers 
did  not  feel  safe  from  attack  until  they  had  erected 


60  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

the  palisade  which  De  Rasieres  described  in  1627. 
This  work  was  completed  in  February. 

When  spring  came,  sixty  acres  of  corn  were 
planted.  But  the  colony  was  already  suffering 
for  food,  and  Winslow  and  others  made  a  number 
of  trips  for  the  purpose  of  buying  corn  from  the 
natives,  with  some  success.  To  add  to'  Plymouth's 
burden,  however,  the  summer  brought  sixty  men 
who  were  to  establish  a  second  colony  under  West- 
on's  management,  and  these  were  left  in  Plymouth 
until  a  site  for  their  settlement  should  be  selected. 
As  they  robbed  the  Plymouth  fields  for  roasting 
ears,  and  made  no  manner  of  restitution,  the  corn 
crop  was  badly  damaged,  and  when  harvested  was 
found  inadequate  to  the  winter's  need. 

The  year  1623  was  a  noteable  one  in  the  history 
of  the  Colony.  It  began  with  semi-famie  and  re- 
newed Indian  troubles.  The  men  sent  out  by 
Weston  the  summer  before  had  established  them- 
selves at  Weymouth,  and  there  by  abuse  and  un- 
fair dealing,  had  speedily  aroused  the  hostility 
of  the  native  tribes. 

Further  they  soon  wasted  the  plentiful  supply  of 
food  with  which  they  had  been  furnished  by  the 
promoters  of  their  colony,  and  the  hostile  savages 
were  not  slow  to  see  their  advantage  in  the  en- 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA  6 1 

suing  weakness  and  want.  A  league  was  formed 
and  the  destruction  of  the  whites  of  both  colonies 
plotted. 

Adding  to  Plymouth's  danger,  her  friend  Massa- 
soit,  was  sick,  as  it  was  thought,  unto  death.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  the  reported  presence  of  a 
Dutch  ship  on  the  south  coast  induced  Winslow 
to  journey  thither.  He  did  not  find  the  Dutch- 
man, but  he  was  enabled  to  visit  and  cure  Massa- 
soit.  In  return  the  whites  were  told  all  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  conspiracy,  which  the  sachem,  in  his 
enfeebled  condition,  had  been  unable  to  thwart. 
The  result  of  this  information  was  Myles  Stan- 
dish's  famous  expedition  to  Weymouth  and  the 
slaying  of  Wituwamet  and  his  fellow  conspirators. 
This  ended  the  Indian  troubles  until  King  Phillip's 
War  many  years  later. 

The  question  of  food  was  still  paramount.  The 
shortage  of  grain  was  even  worse  than  the  year 
before,  and  when  summer  came  the  main  reliance 
of  the  colonists  was  on  clams  and  other  shell  fish. 
In  order  to  insure  a  more  adequate  supply  of  corn 
for  the  ensuing  year  a  new  plan  of  cultivation  was 
adopted.  Hitherto  the  land  had  been  tilled  by 
the  community  as  a  whole,  the  fields  being  held  in 
common. 


62  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Now  the  plan  was  tried  of  allotting  to  each 
family  the  land  which  was  to  yield  it  sustenance. 
The  result  was  an  added  acreage  under  cultivation, 
and,  despite  a  long  drought  in  the  summer,  a 
bountiful  harvest  which  marked  the  end  of  Ply- 
mouth's sufferings  for  food. 

July  of  1623  brought  to  Plymouth  the  last  of  the 
Leyden  brethren  who  were  to  come  in  a  body  to 
the  new  home  of  their  church.  The  new-comers 
numbered  about  one  hundred,  and  they  came  in  the 
ship  Anne  and  a  small  consort  —  the  Little  James. 
These  immigrants  brought  with  them  their  own 
provisions,  so  there  was  nothing  to  mar  the  satis- 
faction of  the  reunion.  The  passenger  list  of 
these  vessels  completes  the  roll  of  those  who  are 
properly  called  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

In  1624  the  first  cattle  were  brought  to  Ply- 
mouth. Goats,  swine  and  poultry,  and  possibly 
sheep,  were  already  there  in  small  numbers.  This 
year  saw  also  the  beginning  of  a  profitable  trade 
with  the  Maine  Indians  on  the  Kennebec  River 
which  was  to  continue  until  the  French  seizure  of 
Plymouth's  trading  post  and  properties  in  1635. 
In  the  same  year  (1635)  a  similar  fate  overtook  a 
Plymouth  trading  post  on  the  Connecticut  River 


THE  RETURN  OF  THE  MAYFLOWER. 

Permission  New  England  Mutual  Life. 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA  63 

—  only  this  time  the  seizure  was  by  Englishmen  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  Colony. 

But  the  most  important  event  of  this  fifth  year 
of  the  new  Colony  was  the  conspiracy  of  Oldham 
and  Lyford  against  the  Congregational  form  of 
church  government.  Oldham1  was  one  of  nine 
"  Particulars  "  —  men  who  lived  at  Plymouth 
without  sharing  in  its  business  responsibilities  and 
benefits  —  who  had  come  over  in  the  Anne  in  1623. 
Lyford  was  an  Episcopal  clergyman  who  had  been 
surreptitiously  smuggled  into  the  Colony  by  some 
of  the  Adventurers  who  wished  to  win  it  over  to 
the  Church  of  England. 

These  two  men  with  what  malcontents  they 
could  win  to  their  aid,  set  about  organizing  a  rival 
church  —  in  secret,  of  course.  At  the  same  time 
they  wrote  vilely  slanderous  accounts  of  the  Pil- 
grim leaders  to  their  London  backers.  Governor 
Bradford,  having  discovered  the  plot,  seized  Ly- 
ford's  correspondence,  and,  after  a  public  trial, 
both  he  and  Oldham  were  banished  from  the 
Colony. 

The  affair  did  not  end  here,  for  it  created  a 
schism  in  the  Adventurers  company,  many  of 
whom  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Pilgrim 
Church.  Its  friends  in  the  company,  however, 


64  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

bought  out  the  interests  of  the  malcontents.  In 
1626  these  in  turn  sold  their  right  to  the  colonists 
themselves  for  eighteen  hundred  pounds.  This 
debt  was  assumed  by  eight  bondsmen  for  the  Col- 
ony —  Bradford,  Standish,  Allerton,  Winslow, 
Brewster,  Howland,  Alden,  and  Prence. 

Doubtless  it  would  have  been  discharged  in  a 
very  few  years,  but  in  a  moment  of  sorry  inspira- 
tion four  Londoners  —  Sherly,  Beauchamp,  An- 
drews and  Hatherly  —  were  taken  into  partnership, 
fastening  an  incubus  of  dishonesty  upon  the  com- 
pany,—  in  Sherly,  the  London  agent,  —  which  de- 
layed the  final  release  from  debt  until  1646. 

According  to  the  original  compact  with  the  Ad- 
venturers, at  the  end  of  seven  years  the  lands  and 
common  properties  of  the  Colony  were  to  be  al- 
lotted in  severalty  to  the  colonists.  This  was  done 
in  1627.  There  were  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
men,  women  and  children,  constituting  the  pur- 
chasers of  the  Adventurers'  right,  to  each  of  whom 
went  a  share. 

It  is  probable  that  indentured  servants  and 
others  raised  the  whole  population  of  the  settle- 
ment to  something  more  than  two  hundred.  There 
were  but  fifteen  head  of  cattle  in  the  Colony  at  the 
time,  and  in  order  to  divide  these  the  colonists  were 


PILGRIMS  IN  AMERICA  65 

divided  into  twelve  groups,  or  companies,  to  each 
of  which  was  to  be  given  the  care  and  use  of  an 
animal  for  ten  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the 
original  beast  and  one-half  of  her  increase  was  to 
be  restored  to  the  public.  This  division  took  place 
on  June  first,  1627. 

With  the  allotment  in  severally  the  story  of  the 
Pilgrimage  properly  ends.  Plymouth  Colony  was 
to  continue  an  interesting  and  eventful  history  un- 
til its  rights  and  its  independence  were  finally  taken 
away  by  Andros,  the  tyrannical  consolidator  of 
New  England  colonies,  in  1686.  But  this  history 
is  but  a  chapter  in  the  larger  history  of  the  state 
of  Massachusetts.  Plymouth  was  the  first  begin- 
ning of  that  state,  'but  she  was  not  long  in  advance 
of  her  sister  settlements. 

As  early  as  1622  rival  settlers  began  to  appear. 
In  1625  Salem  was  founded,  and  scattered  dwellers 
established  themselves  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
future  Boston;  while  in  1627,  at  the  time  of  the 
cattle  division  in  the  elder  Colony,  Endicott  and 
Winthrop  and  the  founders  of  the  Bay  settlement 
were  already  preparing  for  their  journey.  And 
thenceforth  the  stories  of  all  these  are  closely  inter- 
wrought,  forming  one  history. 

At  the  same  time  the  spirit  of  Plymouth  must 


66  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

not  be  confounded  with  that  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 
The  Pilgrims  were  not  Puritans.  They  were  ever 
broader  and  more  tolerant.  In  their  church  they 
were  willing  to  receive  the  Episcopalian  ministra- 
tions of  Lyford  and  listen  to  the  Baptist  sermons 
of  Roger  Williams,  their  pastor  from  1631  to  1633, 
freely  and  with  appreciation  so  long  as  their  demo- 
cratic church  government  was  not  attacked. 

In  truth,  it  was  in  their  firm  adherence  to  the 
principles  of  democracy  that  the  men  of  Plymouth 
most  widely  differed  from  their  neighbors  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay.  The  latter  colony  was  in  its  be- 
ginning thoroughly  aristocratic  in  temper  and 
taste.  But  Plymouth  and  its  Pilgrim  founders  had 
suffered  too  much  for  the  sake  of  liberty  to  endure 
serfdom  and  caste  in  their  political  organization. 
And  so  it  comes  about  that  to  this  day  we  style  the 
Pilgrim  band  the  Forefathers  of  the  Republic,  and 
the  Rock  of  their  Landing  is  to  us  a  corner-stone 
of  freedom. 


. 


JOHN  ALDEN'S  BIBLE. 


CHAPTER    V. 

JOHN     ALDEN. 

N  the  year  of  our  Lord  1621  the  Ameri- 
cas were  the  world's  Outlands.  To 
the  peoples  of  Europe  the  New  Land 
was  a  land  of  promise  and  sunset  gold. 
Long  before  dim  echoes  of  a  world 
beyond  the  ocean,  tales  of  a  fair  Vine- 
land  farther  than  Ultima  Thule,  had 
been  brought  from  the  country  of  the 
Norseman  by  chapmen  and  pilgrims 
who  had  them  at  the  bearded  lips  of  wild  sea-scouts. 
And  long  before  Madoc,  Prince  of  Wales,  had 
heard  the  siren  of  the  Western  Sea.  Ten  long 
ships  there  were,  laden  with  Madoc's  folk.  Sing- 
ing they  sailed  from  port,  out  past  the  Irish  coast, 
to  found  a  New  Wales  in  the  night-haunt  of  the 
sun.  That  was  A.  D.  1170,  and  the  ten  ship  loads 
of  folk  were  never  heard  from  more.  Afterwards 
Columbus  sailed.  And  then  Europe  heard. 

The  ancient  restless  summons  of  the  West  which 
had  drawn  the  tribes  of  our  fathers'  fathers  from 
far  Asian  plateaus  was  heard  anew  in  all  her  sea- 


68  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

borders.  A  hundred  sails  filled  westward  —  the 
fleets  of  the  explorers.  Then  a  thousand  —  fishers' 
craft,  trading  vessels,  the  black  corsair  of  the 
pirate.  And  so  was  begun  the  last  great  migration 
of  the  Aryan  peoples,  a  migration  which  was  to 
continue  for  one,  two,  three  hundred  years, —  who 
knows  how  many  centuries,  for  it  is  not  yet  at  an 
end. 

In  the  year  1621  a  few  straggling  colonies  had 
attained  a  timorous  foothold  along  the  eastern 
coast  of  North  America.  For  more  than  a  century 
and  a  quarter  the  New  World  had  been  known,  yet 
its  settlement  was  hardly  begun.  Money  and  lives 
had  been  freely  expended  in  efforts  to  colonize,  but 
a  long  list  of  failures  as  yet  far  overbalanced  the 
three  or  four  settlements  that  promised  perma- 
nence and  success.  Of  these  the  youngest  was 
Plymouth. 

A  winter  and  summer  were  passed  since  the  first 
coming.  One-half  of  those  who  had  set  forth  to 
hew  them  out  homes  in  the  wilderness  were  dead. 
But  the  other  half  and  the  Colony  survived.  There 
was  no  turning  back.  These  were  not  men  to 
change  their  faces  from  a  venture  either  for  its  toil 
or  its  hunger  or  for  death  itself. 

And  so  when,  late  in  November  of  that  year,  the 


JOHN  ALDEN  69 

ship  Fortune  hoisted  her  sails  for  the  long  eastern 
voyage  to  England  it  was  not  to  carry  discouraged 
remnants  of  a  settlement,  as  so  many  a  good  ship 
had  done  before,  but  proudly  to  bear  away  the  new 
colony's  first  cargo  of  merchandise  —  sassafras 
root  and  good  clapboard  and  fur  of  the  otter  and 
beaver. 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  people  of  Plymouth 
gathered  at  the  'beach  to  watch  the  vessel's  de- 
parture. There  were  the  thirty-five  persons  that 
the  Fortune  had  brought,  "  most  of  them  lusty 
yonge  men,  and  many  of  them  wild  enough,  who 
little  considered  whither  or  aboute  what  they 
wente." 

Yet  on  this  day  at  least  they  must  have  taken 
pause  for  serious  thought,  beginning  to  realize 
something  of  the  hard  significance  and  vast  isola- 
tion of  the  new  life.  There  were,  again,  the  fifty 
men,  women  and  children  of  the  Mayflower.  To 
them  the  going  of  the  ship  meant  much.  She  was 
the  sole  link  joining  them  to  Europe  and  civiliza- 
tion, the  sole  tie  to  friends  and  home. 

More  precious  than  the  freighting  of  lumber  and 
fur  were  the  letters  she  carried  over  sea  —  cargo 
of  love  and  of  hope  and  of  much  lasting  sorrow, 
too,  for  those  that  waited.  Doubtless,  beside,  there 


70  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

were  some  dark-skinned  subjects  of  the  sachem 
Massasoit  scattered  among  the  watchers,  their  im- 
passive faces  revealing  no  sign  of  the  awe  they 
must  have  felt  at  the  white  man's  great  canoe,  their 
untaught  wit  failing  to  read  them  their  race's  doom 
in  the  shadow  of  the  ship.  And  so  she  heaved  her 
anchors  and  spread  her  canvas  and  bore  away,  her 
departure  meaning  to  all  of  them  more  than  their 
tongues  could  easily  say. 

There  was  one  among  the  watchers  to  whom  the 
going  of  the  Fortune  meant  even  more  than  to 
any  of  the  others.  A  tall,  handsome  young  man 
he  was,  the  tallest  and  handsomest  in  the  Colony. 
Perchance  he  stood  a  little  apart  from  the  rest, — 
in  gray  Pilgrim  garb,  worn  with  easy  and  uncon- 
scious grace,  his  head  bared,  the  wind  lightly  toy- 
ing the  red-flaxen  hair  that  hung  down  almost  to 
the  broad  white  collar  over  yet  broader  shoulders. 

The  ruddy  and  white  complexion  natural  to  him 
is  tanned  and  browned  by  a  year  of  out-door  life  in 
harsh  New  England  weather,  but  tanned  as  it  is 
the  complexion  speaks  the  health  and  strength  and 
the  vigorous  youth  of  a  man  who  is  to  live  well 
nigh  four  score  years  and  ten. 

He  has  the  straight  nose  and  smooth  brow  of  the 
pure  Saxon;  his  mouth  is  a  mixture  of  boyishness 


JOHN  ALDEN 


and  Puritan  strength,  of  resolution  and  purpose 
and  of  that  delicate  expressiveness  native  to  the 
man  of  eloquent  tongue;  his  blue  eyes,  keen,  alert, 
serious,  yet  ever  ready  to  smile.  "  John  Alden, 
Cooper,"  he  signs  himself.  And  now  as  he  watches 
the  Fortune  standing  out  to  sea,  he  knows  well 
that  her  departure,  without  him,  sets  a  final  seal  to 
the  way  of  his  life  and  points  its  final  course. 

Over  a  year  ago  he  embarked  on  the  Mayflower, 
engaged  for  the  years'  service  to  the  new  colony. 
And  now  his  year  is  spent  and  the  vessel  that 
might  have  borne  him  back  to  his  fatherland  is 
dropping  below  the  sea's  horizon.  He  has  elected 
to  cast  his  lot,  for  weal  or  woe,  in  the  New  World. 

Wrote  Governor  Bradford:  "John  Alden  was 
hired  for  a  cooper,  at  South-Hampton,  wher  the 
ship  victuled;  and  being  a  hopfull  yong  man,  was 
much  desired,  but  left  to  his  owne  liking  to  go  or 
stay  when  he  came  here  ;  but  he  stayed,  and  maryed 
here."  It  is  simply  said.  A  life's  romance  in  a 
paragraph.  He  had  elected  to  stay. 

Yet  on  this  November  day,  with  his  eyes  on  the 
fading  sail,  there  must  have  been  many  a  thought 
of  the  old  places  and  the  old  faces  in  green  England 
that  he  was  never  to  see  again.  "  Merrie  Eng- 
lande  "  she  was  yet  in  those  days,  and  he  loved  her. 


72  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

So  the  good  ship's  sails  were  hidden  in  a  fog  not 
the  sea's  and  there  were  tears  in  the  blue  eyes. 

"  Are  you  sorry,  John?  " 

Governor  Bradford  ended  his  laconic  paragraph 
with  the  yet  more  laconic,  "but  he  stayed  and 
maryed  here."  It  is  the  key  and  climax  of  the 
story.  And  here  she  stands  beside  him, — slender, 
vivacious,  gracile  as  the  young  birch  of  the  new 
shore, —  dark-eyed  Priscilla.  She,  too,  has  been 
looking  toward  the  sea  and  the  vanishing  ship  with 
no  less  feeling  than  his  own.  For  it  might  —  so 
little  a  hap  might  have  caused  it, —  it  might,  even 
now,  have  been  bearing  him  away  from  her  for- 
ever. The  ship  seems  almost  cruel  to  her  at  the 
very  thought. 

If  he  had  not  known  so  soon, —  if  he  had  not 
spoken, —  if  he  had  not  cared  —  ah,  if  he  had  not! 
She  draws  close  up  to  him  involuntarily  —  to  make 
quite  sure  that  he  is  really  beside  her,  and  not 
aboard  the  Fortune  bound  for  England.  And  she 
casts  a  quick,  shy,  proud  glance  up  into  his  face. 
And  then  she  sees  the  tears  in  his  blue  eyes.  And 
then  — 

"Are  you  sorry,  John?" 

Of  course  there  could  be  but  one  answer  to  such 
a  question,  and  he  gives  it  with  such  a  resounding 


PRISCILLA'S  SILVER,  CANDLESTICKS  AND   HEATER. 
(Owned  by  Mrs.  Geo.  Boiling,  Brockton.) 


JOHN  ALDEN  73 

good  will  that  the  grave  elders  of  the  Colony  turn 
about  in  surprise  and  a  certain  wiry  little  captain, 
with  steel  morion  and  side  arms,  wheels  sharply 
about  and  then  as  sharply  back  again  to  gaze 
abstractedly  out  to  sea,  the  while  nervously  tug- 
ging at  his  iron-gray  moustachios.  But  John  sees 
nothing  of  all  this  and  minds  it  less,  and  as  for 
Priscilla  — •  well,  a  kindly  tan  conceals  her  blushes. 
The  tears  in  John  Alden's  eyes  were  not  tears  of 
regret  —  never  for  a  moment.  He  is  well  satisfied 
with  his  choice,  and  has  reason  to  be.  But  there 
are  memories  of  those  over  sea,  and  of  the  graves 
there, —  those  were  honest  and  manly  tears  and  no 
cause  for  shame. 

The  vessel  disappears,  and  the  group  at  the  shore 
breaks  away.  But  John  and  Priscilla  do  not  follow 
toward  the  dozen  low-eaved  buildings  that  consti- 
tute the  village. 

Instead  they  turn  toward  the  hillside  where  lies 
the  dearest  treasure  that  has  been  expended  in  the 
building  of  Plymouth  —  her  dead.  Among  them 
—  part  of  the  price  of  the  planting  —  are  William 
Mullines,  and  his  wife,  and  Joseph,  their  son, — 
Priscilla's  all.  Here  they  linger  for  a  time,  speak- 
ing little,  for  their  hearts  are  full.  Priscilla's  is  the 
young  grief,  but  John,  sober  beside  her,  has 


74  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

thought  of  a  far-away  English  churchyard  where 
lie  buried  the  generations  of  his  fathers.  He  has 
cut  loose  from  the  old  stock. 

He  has  established  a  'new  home  in  the  wilderness 
and  fastened  his  hopes  on  a  new  land.  He  has 
taken  to  wife  a  daughter  of  refugees,  orphaned  as 
he  is  orphaned,  wotting  neither  kith  nor  kin.  Her 
health  and  her  beauty  are  all  her  dowry  —  these 
and  the  cunning  of  her  hands.  But  he  asks  no 
more,  and  he  is  well  content  to  render  her  arm- 
service  and  heart-service,  the  best  of  his  strength 
and  love. 

The  lights  in  the  windows  of  Plymouth  are  al- 
ready shining  when  these  two  —  well  rejoiced  in 
one  another  —  at  last  turn  their  steps  toward  The 
Street.  They  have  buried  the  dead  past.  Before 
them  is  the  New  World  future.  And  doubt  not 
something  of  the  poetry  and  magnificence  of  that 
future,  some  vision  of  the  free  nation  that  is  to  be 
reared  by  their  handicraft,  its  might  and  its  achieve- 
ment, is  revealed  to  them. 

On  one  side  of  them  is  the  darkling  sea  stretch- 
ing away  to  Europe  and  things  gone  by;  but  they 
turn  instead  to  the  shadowy,  mysterious  band  of 
New  England  forest,  nor  do  they  feel  now  its  awe 
and  hidden  fears,  for  it  seems  to  them  a  forest  of 


JOHN  ALDEN  75 

promise  and  over  it  falls  the  golden  light  of  the 
sinking  sun — 'the  age-long  lure  of  their  race. 

That  was  in  1621.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1902 
the  world  is  well  nigh  three  hundred  years  older. 
And  the  old  have  long  and  troublesome  memories. 
They  delve  and  dig  into  the  ashes  of  the  past  seek- 
ing some  token  of  the  dead  days  that  are  gone,  if 
perchance  they  may  live  again.  A  faded,  yellow 
scrawl,  a  rain-eaten  date  on  a  fallen  stone,  a  frag- 
ment of  old  ware  —  anything  that  yet  may  bring 
some  echo  of  the  vanished  joy  into  the  toil  of 
today. 

Reaction  from  the  too  fevered  and  strained  life 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century  has  caused  us  to  turn 
for  rest  and  relief  and  poetry  to  the  romance  of 
earlier  days.  Then  a  man's  hand  was  a  man's, 
whether  wielding  musket,  or  oar,  or  hoe.  Life  was 
a  battle  with  the  Wilderness,  and  the  toiler's  wits 
were  matched  with  the  wiles  of  an  upkempt  Nature 
which  it  was  his  to  shear  with  the  axe  and  his  to 
comb  with  the  plough.  Yet  the  toil  was  still  not 
greater  than  its  reward,  and  there  was  time  for 
thought  of  the  soul. 

In  those  days  no  man  asked  concerning  another, 
who  were  his  sires.  Each  was  content  to  accept  his 
fellows  for  what  they  were  in  themselves  and  for 


76  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

what  they  could  do  —  for  their  man-value,  as  the 
need  then  was.  That  the  Fathers  gave  thought 
to  the  parents  who  had  borne  them  over-sea,  we 
well  know,  for  they  were  reverent  men.  But  their 
days  were  full  of  occupatoin,  and  this  thought  was 
rather  the  companion  of  plough-labor  than  of  pen- 
labor;  and  they  abode  in  a  New  World  and  were 
the  beginnings  of  a  new  life,  and  the  largeness  of 
this,  rather  than  remembrance  of  abandoned  ways 
and  places,  was  the  theme  of  their  speech.  They 
remembered  and  held  dear  their  house-kin  in  old 
England,  as  true  men  must,  but  they  kept  these 
memories  sacred  from  profanation,  deep  cloistered 
in  the  heart. 

Among  all  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  is  none  whose 
origin  is  better  hidden  than  is  that  of  John  Alden. 
We  have  the  four  lines  of  Governor  Bradford's  en- 
try regarding  him  and  we  know  that  he  was  about 
twenty-one  years  old  when  he  embarked  on  the 
Mayflower  at  Southampton.  Beyond  this  nothing 
is  certain.  But  there  are  a  few  facts  ascertained 
regarding  the  name  which  warrant  plausible  infer- 
ences. 

In  mediaeval  Europe  surnames  were  by  no 
means  common  properties.  Among  our  Saxon 
forefathers  they  were  not  possessed  even  by  men 


JOHN  ALDEN 77 

of  rank  and  family,  and  the  hero  of  our  oldest 
national  epic  is  always  designated,  "  Beowulf,  son 
of  Ecgtheowes."  With  the  coming  of  Christianity, 
however,  came  Christian  baptism  and  the  Christian 
name,  prefixed  to  the  epithetic  or  patronymic  name 
which,  in  turn,  developed  into  the  surname  or  fam- 
ily name. 

But  the  general  use  of  surnames  came  about 
very  gradually.  As  late  as  the  Seventeenth  and 
Eighteenth  centuries  they  were  still  not  applied  to 
the  yokel  and  the  churl.  The  common  name  was 
just  Tom,  Dick  or  Harry.  As  time  passed  and  the 
Toms,  Dicks  and  Harrys  multiplied,  they  were 
differentiated  as  Tom  the  Cooper,  from  Tom  the 
Smith,  Whitehead  Dick  from  Dick  the  Fleet, 
Harry  of  the  Dale  from  Harry,  Harry's  son;  and 
thence  very  quickly  arise  Tom  Cooper,  Dick 
Whitehead,  Harry  Dale,  and  so  on. 

It  is  thus  that  names  grow,  and  it  is  only  in  the 
most  ancient  surnames  —  names  that  have  sur- 
vived the  wear  and  change  of  language,  that  we 
can  be  reasonably  certain  that  the  bearing  of  it  is 
evidence  of  a  long-established  family. 

Alden  is  such  a  name.  It  is  a  Teuto-Scandinavian 
name,  being  found  in  Holland,  Germany  and  the 
Scandinavian  peninsula  —  under  such  forms  as 


78  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Van  Alden,  Aulden,  and  Auldine —  as  well  as  in 
England.  This  wide  territorial  extent  alone  would 
indicate  the  antiquity  of  the  name,  but  it  does  not 
necessarily  imply  a  common  origin,  in  the  stricter 
sense,  to  all  who  bear  it.  Its  probable  etymology, 
however,  explains  its  wide  extension. 

The  prefix  "  al  "  or  "  el  "  in  Anglo-Saxon  meant 
brave,  strong,  noble,  illustrious, —  as  in  Albert, 
"  the  nobly  bright."  "  Dene  "  is  an  old  spelling  for 
the  word  Dane.  And  the  meaning  of  Alden  was, 
accordingly,  the  "  brave,  or  noble,  Dane."  This 
does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the  Aldens  were 
originally  Danish,  for  our  Saxon  fathers  called 
themselves  "  Danes  "  in  early  times.  But  it  does 
indicate  that  the  name  was  probably  brought  over 
from  the  Continent,  and  it  explains,  in  a  way,  the 
prevalence  of  it  in  the  countries  bordering  on  the 
Danish  peninsula  —  that  cradle  of  English  col- 
onization. And  it  shows  without  question  that  the 
family  was  established  long  before  the  moderniza- 
tion of  languages. 

A  supposition  has  been  put  forward  that  John 
Alden  was  an  Irishman,  but  there  are  no  facts  to 
support  this  view.  The  possession  of  a  Teutonic 
name  is  itself  strong  prima  facie  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  and  when  the  name  is  of  as  ancient  forma- 


JOHN  ALDEN  79 

tion  as  his  there  can  be  little  doubt  about  the 
matter.  But  aside  from  the  name,  tradition  has 
described  John  Alden  as  distinctively  of  Saxon 
type;  and  to  this  day  his  descendants  almost  in- 
variably show  the  ethnic  characteristics  of  that 
race. 

An  anecdote  will  illustrate.  Mrs.  Charles  L. 
Alden  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  has  published  the  following-: 
"  My  sister,  while  traveling  there  (in  Norway), 
came  across  two  little  peasant  boys;  one  of  them 
resembling  my  little  son,  John  Alden,  she  was  in- 
duced to  ask  his  name,  and  was  startled  by  the 
reply,  'Jan  Aulden'."  Of  course  this  does  not 
mean  that  there  was  any  family  relationship,  near 
or  far,  between  young  John  and  Jan,  but  it  does 
indicate  the  ethnic  kinship  between  the  Scandina- 
vian family  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  Aldens  of  Eng- 
land and  America. 

In  England  the  name  of  Alden  was  widespread 
at  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  A.  D.  1066. 
In  the  Domesday  Book — the  Conqueror's  census 
taken  1086  —  Aldens  and  Aldenes  are  recorded  in 
nearly  all  of  the  eastern  counties  from  Hertford- 
shire north  to  York  (these  were  the  counties  most 
affected  by  the  Danish  invasions  of  the  Ninth  Cen- 
tury). Many  of  them  are  entered  as  "  tenants  in 


8o  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

capite  " —  that  is,  as  holding  lands  directly  from 
the  King, —  and  manv  more  as  having  been  land- 
holders in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  or 
the  years  following.  Among  the  latter  is  an  "  Al- 
dene  et  ejus  mater "  of  Hertfordshire,  who  was 
still,  at  the  time  of  the  great  census,  an  under- 
holder  of  land.  It  is  apparent  from  these  records 
that  many  Aldens  were  men  of  importance  and  long 
establishment  in  England  under  the  Saxon  rule, 
but  in  common  with  the  great  majority  of  their 
countrymen  they  sank  into  obscurity  under  the 
despotic  sway  of  the  Norman  Conqueror. 

But  not  all  branches  of  the  family  disappeared, 
as  the  recurrence  of  the  name  in  later  times  in  the 
ancient  localities  shows;  nor  did  the  Aldens  wholly 
lose  station,  as  is  sufficiently  evinced  by  their  re- 
corded armorial  bearings,  notably  numerous 
among  the  Aldens  of  Hertfordshire. 

The  immediate  family  of  the  Pilgrim  leader  is 
unknown.  It  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that  he  was 
orphaned  when  he  embarked  for  America,  and  it  is 
not  believed  that  he  had  either  brothers  or  sisters. 
But  so  far  as  is  known  there  was  but  one  promi- 
nent Alden  family  in  southern  England  at  the  time. 
The  seat  of  this  family  was  in  the  neighboring 
shires  of  Hertford  and  Cambridge.  It  was  to  John 


JOHN  ALDEN  81 

Alden  of  Hertfordshire,  a  lawyer  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  that  the  coat  of  arms  mentioned  in  Tim- 
othy Alden's  American  Inscriptions  (Vol.  IV.)  was 
granted  in  1607. 

This  gentleman  was  doubtless  the  head  of  the 
family,  and  while  it  is  not  likely  that  the  Pilgrim 
John  belonged  to  his  immediate  household,  still  it 
may  have  been  to  him  that  the  latter  owed  the  edu- 
cation which  enabled  him  to  serve  in  later  years 
as  magistrate  in  Plymouth  Colony.  Another  Alden 
who  may  have  been  a  kinsman  of  the  American 
forefather  is  that  Robert  Allden  who  is  given  as 
one  of  the  London  merchants,  known  as  the  "  Ad- 
venturers," who  furnished  the  financial  backing  of 
the  Mayflower  expedition.  It  is  not  at  all  unlikely 
that  to  him  was  due  John  Alden's  engagement  as 
cooper  for  the  new  colony.  Bradford's  statement 
that  he  was  hired  at  Southampton  might  be  an  in- 
accuracy. For  a  cooper  was  a  legal  necessity  to 
the  expedition.  A  Parliamentary  statute  of  1543 
required  that  "  whosoever  shall  carry  Beer  beyond 
Sea,  shall  find  Sureties  to  the  Customers  of  that 
Port,  to  bring  in  Clapboard  meet  to  make  so  much 
Vessel  as  he  shall  carry  forth." 

Now  the  English  contingent  of  the  expedition 
had,  we  are  told,  been  embarked  at  London,  and  it 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 


is  quite  improbable  that  the  men  -who  organized  it 
would  delay  the  engagement  of  a  cooper,  known 
to  be  necessary,  until  the  small  port  of  Southamp- 
ton should  be  reached  —  where  they  might  utterly 
fail  to  find  a  man  ready  to  risk  his  life  in  the  wilder- 
ness. It  is  much  the  more  likely  that  Bradford 
first  met  Alden  at  Southampton,  where  he  would 
come  to  attention  in  connection  with  the  finding  of 
"Sureties  to  the  Customers  of  the  Port";  or,  it 
may  be  that  it  was  at  Southampton  that  Alden  first 
embarked,  having  come  overland  from  London. 

John  Alden  did  not  arrogate  to  himself  the  then 
somewhat  considerable  title  of  "  Master,"  —  on 
"  Mister,"  as  we  say  it.  Although  this  title  was 
afterward  coupled  with  his  name  both  by  Governor 
Bradford  and  by  John  Winthrop,  the  aristocratic 
governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  still  to  the  last  he 
was  accustomed  to  sign  himself  plain  "  John  Al- 
den," or,  if  anything  more  were  needed,  "  Cooper  " 
or  "  Yeoman  "  might  be  added.  The  yeomen  of 
England  were  the  descendants  of  the  freeholders 
and  landed  gentry  of  pre-Norman  times,  and 
among  them  were  many  names  which  had  stood 
high  in  the  kingdom  in  the  days  before  the  Con- 
quest. 

The  standing  of  a  cooper,  or,  as  then  described, 


10HN  ALDEN  83 

an  "  artificer  of  the  Mystery  of  Coopers,"  corre- 
sponded to  that  of  the  skilled  mechanic  or  technol- 
ogist of  today,  and  denoted  special  training  and 
emolument.  That  the  Pilgrim  cooper  possessed 
a  better  education  than  even  his  trade  required  is 
abundantly  evidenced  by  the  forward  position  he 
immediately  took  in  the  affairs  of  the  Colony.  In 
days  when  the  ability  to  write  one's  name  was  by 
no  means  common,  he  was  the  youngest  signer  of 
the  famous  Compact.  Governor  Bradford's  note 
in  the  list  of  the  Mayflower's  passengers  well  signi- 
fies what  station  the  young  Alden  was  accorded  in 
men's  minds. 

But  titles  meant  very  little  in  Plymouth  Colony. 
A  purer  democracy  in  spirit  or  in  fact  has  never 
existed  than  was  that  instituted  by  the  framers  of 
the  Compact.  Born  of  rebellion  against  the  reli- 
gious tyranny  of  the  Established  Church,  the 
Christian  fellowship  of  the  Congregation  and  the 
democratic  spirit  of  the  Congregational  form  of 
church  government  soon  tempered  the  whole  so- 
cial, political  and  religious  life  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers. 

Long  before  Rousseau,  they  discovered  and  put 
into  practice  a  doctrine  of  the  rights  of  man,  and 
framed  an  original  compact  of  government,  which 


84  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

should  far  outlast  the  theories  of  the  great  political 
philosopher. 

As  should  be  in  a  true  democracy,  the  holding  of 
office  was  rather  an  honorable  burden  than  a  titled 
privilege.  It  was  a  token  of  esteem  and  a  tacit 
recognition  of  worth  on  the  part  of  the  community, 
but  it  conveyed  no  emolument  comparable  to  its 
toils  and  it  was  not  sought  after.  The  assumption 
of  official  labors  was  rather  looked  upon  as  a  duty 
which  the  strong  owed  their  weaker  brethren. 

All  of  the  Pilgrim  leaders  were  called  upon  to 
render  full  stint  of  service  to  the  Colony,  but  there 
is  no  record  among  them  of  so  long  and  varied  a 
public  service  as  that  of  John  Alden.  As  early  as 
1627,  when  he  was  but  twenty-seven  years  of  age, 
his  name  appears  as  one  of  the  eight  "  Undertak- 
ers "  who  bought  out  the  "  Adventurers,"  and 
assumed  the  financial  responsibilities  and  indebted- 
ness of  the  Colony.  In  this  we  see  not  only  the 
estimation  placed  upon  young  Alden  by  his  elders, 
but  something  of  his  courage  and  enterprise  as 
well,  for  the  Colony  was  as  yet  by  no  means  an  as- 
sured success,  and  in  case  of  its  destruction,  aban- 
donment or  bankruptcy  each  of  the  "  Undertak- 
ers "  would  have  been  liable  to  the  hopeless  hor- 
rors of  the  debtors'  prison  as  well  as  loss  of  prop- 


JOHN  ALDEN  85 

erty.  Had  he  so  chosen  Alden  might  have  found 
in  his  youth  sufficient  excuse  for  escaping  a  profit- 
less and  dangerous  responsibility,  but,  as  his  after 
record  shows,  he  was  not  a  man  to  put  upon  others 
the  performance  of  public  duties.  He  remained 
one  of  the  Colony's  financial  backers  until  the  final 
wiping  out  of  its  debt  in  1646. 

In  public  office  John  Alden  gave  manifold  ser- 
vice. He  was  many  times  surveyor  of  highways, 
and  he  also  acted  as  agent  for  the  Colony,  in  which 
capacity  he  had  oversight  of  business  affairs.  His 
duties  were  not  altogether  "  office  work,"  for  in 
1634  we  find  record  of  a  trip  to  Plymouth's  trading 
post  on  the  Kennebec  River  in  charge  of  the  public 
merchandise. 

The  year  before  he  had  been  appointed  a  member 
of  the  board  of  assistants  to  the  governor.  This 
marked  the  beginning  of  magisterial  duties  which 
were  to  continue,  with  some  interruption,  until  his 
death.  From  1640  to  1650,  almost  continuously, 
he  was  deputy  from  the  town  of  Duxbury,  which 
he  represented  in  the  Colonial  councils.  In  1632, 
in  1634-9,  and  in  1650,  he  was  assistant  on  the  gov- 
ernor's board,  and  so  continued  from  the  latter 
date  until  his  death  in  1686.  In  1665  he  was  styled 
"  deputy  governor."  He  was  often  on  the  council 


86  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

of  war  for  the  Colony,  notably  at  the  time  of  King 
Philip's  War  in  1667  and  of  the  Dutch-English 
colonial  troubles.  Doubtless  he  took  part  in  the 
military  expeditions  of  the  earlier  years,  as  a  man 
of  his  strength  and  adventurous  dsiposition  would 
be  certain  to  do;  and  we  know  that  in  1643  ne  and 
his  sons,  John,  Jr.,  and  Joseph,  were  enrolled 
among  the  eighty  Duxbury  men  forming  its  mili- 
tary organization.  But  his  talents  were  rather  for 
administration  than  for  warfare  and  while  never 
shirking  military  responsibilties,  his  more  eminent 
services  to  the  commonwealth  were  civil  and  judi- 
cial. 

That  these  services  were  esteemed  by  his  con- 
temporaries to  be  very  considerable  we  have  more 
than  the  evidence  of  mere  praise.  For  the  most  part 
Plymouth  officials  received  their  pay  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  good  service  rendered.  As  the  Col- 
ony grew  older  and  financially  able  some  monetary 
remuneration  was  attempted.  In  view  of  the  fact 
that  he  had  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  time  to 
public  business  for  so  many  years,  a  special  grant 
was  made  to  Magistrate  Alden.  On  the  old  colony 
records  appears  the  following  entry: 

"  In  regard  that  Mr.  Alden  is  low  in  his  estate, 
and  occationed  to  spend  time  att  the  Courts  on  the 


JOHNALDBN  87 

Contreyes  occation,  and  soe  hath  done  this  many 
yeares ;  the  Court  have  alowed  him  a  small  gratuity 
the  sume  of  ten  pounds  to  bee  payed  by  the  treas- 
urer." 


CHAPTER    VI. 


PLYMOUTH    MAGISTRATE. 

HE  duties  of  the  Plymouth  magistrate 
were  varied  and  picturesque.  To  a 
considerable  extent  the  infliction  of 
punishments  was  subject  to  his  own 
humor.  An  instance  is  the  penalty  in- 
flicted in  the  early  months  of  the  Col- 
ony's existence  upon  Edward  Lister 
and  Edward  Doty,  the  two  servants 
of  Master  Steven  Hopkins,  for  duel- 
ling with  dagger  and  sword. 

They  were  condemned  to  lie  bound  "  neck  and 
heels  "  for  twenty-four  hours  before  the  governor's 
house  —  a  vigil  which  without  doubt  cooled  their 
knightly  ardors.  Stocks  and  fines  were  more  com- 
mon than  jailings  as  the  judicial  reward  of  petty 
crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and  had  the  indubitable 
advantage  of  being  less  trying  to  the  slender  public 
purse.  For  more  serious  offenses  there  were  whip- 
pings and  banishments,  and  even  hanging  for  mur- 
der. In  1657  it  is  recorded  that  one  John  Copeland 
was  banished  because  he  said  that  Mr.  Alden  shook 
and  trembled  in  his  knees  when  he  was  before  him. 
Nowadays  we  should  style  the  obstreperous 


^L^i 

^:,-^:.,^.**-^--'^  ,  -  v^r  v>-"^ 

' 


' 

' 


,    ,    -*T 


Document  drawn  and  signed  by  Magistrate  Alden, 
Pilgrim  Hall,  Plymouth. 


PLYMOUTH  MAGISTRATE  89 

Quaker's  offense  "  contempt  of  court  "  and  give 
him  more  to  think  of  than  the  privilege  of  farming 
in  a  frontier  county. 

More  often,  we  imagine,  the  business  of  the  mag- 
istrate was  nothing  more  serious  than  assessment 
of  fines  for  absence  from  church,  or  administering 
reproof  to  some  not  over-pious  youngster  or  too 
tongue-loose  gossip.  There  were  the  marryings, 
too,  which  were  his  to  perform;  for  the  Independ- 
ent reaction  against  the  Established  Church  went 
so  far  as  to  demand  that  the  marriage  ceremony 
be  a  civil  and  not  a  religious  function.  John  Alden 
himself  was  probably  married,  according  to  this 
custom,  by  Governor  Bradford;  and  in  later  years 
he  doubtless  performed  the  ceremony  for  his  own 
as  well  as  for  his  neighbors'  children.  We  know, 
at  least,  that  he  married  his  daughter  Ruth,  the  an- 
cestress of  the  Presidents  Adams,  in  1657. 

Of  the  part  which  John  Alden  played  in  the  earli- 
est years  of  the  Colony's  existence  we  have,  natur- 
ally, little  record.  He  was  one  of  the  very  young- 
est of  the  men,  relatively  a  stranger,  and  could 
hardly  be  looked  for  in  places  of  prominence, 
which  fell  to  the  elders.  That  he  took  part  in  the 
first  explorations  is  an  inference  necessitated  by 
our  knowledge  of  his  fine  physique.  And  as  an  ex- 


90  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

perienced  worker  in  wood  he  undoubtedly  per- 
formed full  stint  in  the  building  of  Plymouth. 

It  is  probable,  too,  that  it  was  he  who  had  super- 
vision of  the  preparation  of  that  "  good  clapboard  " 
with  which  the  Fortune  was  laden  "  as  full  as  she 
could  stowe  "  upon  her  return  voyage  in  1621;  for, 
as  we  have  seen,  it  was  necessary  to  return  to  Eng- 
land as  many  prepared  staves  (or  "  clapboard  "  as 
it  is  called  in  the  Parliamentary  Act)  as  the  May- 
flower had  carried  away  in  her  casks  and  tuns  of 
ale  and  beer,  and  it  was  for  the  preparation  of  these 
that  John  Alden  had  been  hired. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  a  rivalry  arose  betwixt 
young  Alden  and  Mary  Chilton  as  to  which  should 
be  the  first  to  set  foot  on  Plymouth  Rock,  and  vic- 
tory is  claimed  for  each  of  them  by  their  descend- 
ants,—  so  illustrious  a  man  as  John  Adams  up- 
Holding  the  claim  of  his  Pilgrim  forefather.  Of 
course  the  matter  can  never  be  settled,  and,  indeed, 
would  lose  all  interest  if  it  could.  But  there  are 
probabilities  in  the  case,  and  the  most  pleasing  of 
these  is  that  both  contentions  spring  from  some 
fabled  gallantry  of  Alden's.  It  may  very  likely  be 
that  John  Alden  was  the  first  man  and  Mary  Chil- 
ton the  first  woman  to  land  upon  the  Rock  on  that 
thirty-first  of  January,  1621,  when  the  Congrega- 


PLYMOUTH  MAGISTRATE  91 

tion  held  its  first  service  on  the  shore.  On  this  day 
it  could  have  been  small  honor  for  a  man  of  the 
Colony  to  'be  before  at  the  landing,  but  a  rivalry 
between  the  maids  was  natural  enough.  Nor  is 
it  likely,  vigorous  as  the  Pilgrim  women  were, 
that  they  would  be  allowed  to  leap  from  boat 
to  shore  before  some  muscular  young  man  had 
landed  with  the  painter  and  drawn  the  boat's  nose 
fast  nigh  the  landing-place.  Perhaps  this  young 
man  was  Alden  and  perhaps  as  he  helped  Maid 
Chilton  ashore  he  spoke  some  gallant  phrase  of  the 
new  home's  welcome  of  the  first  fair  foot  to  press 
its  threshold  —  and  thence  sprang  the  tale. 

In  the  assignment  of  houses  and  division  into 
households  in  1621,  we  find  John  Alden  under  the 
roof  presided  over  by  Captain  Myles  Standish, 
whose  house  was  the  first  under  Fort  Hill — the 
captain's  special  charge.  This  is  the  earliest  hint 
we  have  of  the  lifelong  friendship  between  these 
two  men  —  a  friendship  as  romantic  as  that  of 
Tristan  and  King  Mark,  or  that  of  Siegfried  and 
Gunther,  or  any  other  in  which  the  hero  has  shown 
himself  ready  to  give  up  the  woman  of  his  heart's 
choice  for  his  friendship's  sake.  That  the  New 
England  tale  has  a  fairer  ending  than  the  old  trage- 
dies is  altogether  due  to  that  facility  for  knowing 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 


her  own  mind  and  that  aptitude  for  expressing  it 
which  from  the  first  has  characterized  the  Ameri- 
can woman. 

John  Alden  was  not  a  man  to  balk  at  the  driv- 
ings of  Fate  any  more  than  the  valiant  captain  was 
a  man  to  bear  ill  humor  at  the  pranks  of  Cupid. 
He  immediately  set  about  the  establishment  of  a 
new  house  of  Alden,  and  in  1627,  at  the  time  of 
the  land  and  cattle  division,  there  were  two  Ameri- 
can-born youngsters  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the 
distribution  of  acres  and  to  share  in  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  red  English  heifer,  "  Raghorn." 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that,  in  company  with 
Standish  and  some  others,  the  Aldens  began  to 
spend  their  summers  on  their  farm  at  Duxbury  — 
so  called  after  the  seat  of  the  Standish  family  in 
England.  In  the  Old  Colony's  records  appears 
f  The  names  of  those  which  promise 

to  remove  their  families  to  live  in 
An0  16^2 

the  towne  in  the  winter  time,  that 


Aprell  2 


they  may  the  better  repair  to  the 


worship  of  God. 
And  to  this  are  appended  the  names  of  John  Al- 
den,  Captain    Standish,  Jonathan    Brewster,  and 
Thomas  Prence.     But  Duxbury  was  not  long  to 
remain  a  summer  settlement.     The  causes  which 


PL  YMOUTH  MA  CIS  TRA  TE  93 

led  to  the  first  removal  thither  were  such  as  soon 
to  make  it  the  permanent  home  of  its  founders.  An 
entry  in  Governor  Bradford's  history,  1632,  sets 
forth  these  causes: 

"  Alsoe  ye  people  of  ye  plantation  begane  to  grow 
in  their  outward  estats,  by  reason  of  ye  flowing-  of 
many  people  into  ye  cuntrie,  espetially  into  ye  Bay 
of  ye  Massachusets;  by  which  means  corne  & 
cattle  rose  to  a  great  prise,  by  wch  many  were 
much  enriched,  and  comodities!  grue  plentifull;  and! 
yet  in  other  regards  this  benefite  turned  to  their 
hurte,  and  this  accession  of  strength  to  their  weak- 
ness. For  now  as  their  stocks  increased,  and  ye  in- 
crease vendible,  ther  was  no  longer  any  holding 
them  togeather,  but  now  they  must  of  necessitie 
goe  to  their  great  lots;  they  could  not  other  wise 
keep  their  catle;  and  having  oxen  growne,  they 
must  have  land  for  plowing  &  tillage.  And  tio  man 
now  thought  he  could  live,  except  he  had  catle  and 
a  great  deal  of  ground  to  keep  them ;  all  striving  to 
increase  their  stocks.  By  which  means  they  were 
scatered  all  over  ye  bay,  quickly,  and  ye  towne  in 
which  they  live  compactly  till  now,  was  left  very 
thine,  and  in  a  short  time  almost  desolate.  And  if 
this  had  been  all,  it  had  been  less,  thoug  to  much ; 
but  ye  church  must  also  be  devided,  and  those  yt 


94  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

had  lived  so  long  together  in  Christian  &  comfort- 
able fellowship  must  now  part  and  suffer  many 
divisions." 

There  is  an  odd  pathos  in  this  ancient  entry.  It 
is  a  sorrow  for  the  first  'breaking  up  of  the  family 
life,  the  ending  of  the  "  old  days  " —  the  ten  dear, 
toilsome  years  of  the  founding.  Plymouth  was 
like  a  mother  parting  from  her  first-born,  and  even 
if  that  parting  was  for  the  child's  welfare  and  hap- 
piness —  a  marriage-parting  rather  than  a  death, — 
and  token  of  a  new  and  fruitful  prosperity,  still  the 
mother-town  could  not  lose  the  nurseling  without 
some  pang  for  the  passing  of  the  old  order.  Prog- 
ress, like  decay,  brings  its  sadness. 

John  Alden's  farm  at  Duxbury  contained  some- 
thing more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  acres. 
It  lies  to  the  south  of  Blue  Fish  River,  a  runlet 
leading  to  the  sea,  and  has  long  been  esteemed  one 
of  the  best  farms  of  the  town.  The  site  of  the  Pil- 
grim settler's  house,  near  Eagle  Tree  Pond,  is  now 
marked  with  a  marble  slab. 

In  Plymouth,  prior  to  1627,  Governor  Bradford, 
Captain  Standish  and  Mr.  Alden  had  been  in  pos- 
session of  very  nearly,  if  not  quite  all  the  land  be 
twcen  Burial  Hill  and  Main  Street,  and  it  was  here, 
doubtless,  neighboring  Captain  Standish,  that  the 


PLYMOUTH  MAGISTRATE  95 

Pilgrim  John  lived  after  his  marriage  and  before 
his  removal  to  Duxbury.  Upon  his  acquisition  of 
the  Duxbury  farm,  however,  the  Plymouth  prop- 
erty reverted  to  the  town,  and  was  referred  to  in 
the  records  as  Town  Common.  Although  for  sev- 
eral years  he  was  still  a  citizen  of  Plymouth,  the 
removal  to  Duxbury  was  inevitable  by  reason  of  its 
distance,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  was  accomplished 
in  fact  two  or  three  years  before  the  political  sepa- 
ration. 

In  1637,  so  it  is  recorded,  Mr.  Alden  received  a 
small  addition  to  his  farm  in  a  hill  or  knoll  to  the 
north  of  the  Blue  Fish,  granted  "  in  lieu  of  a  Pcell 
of  land  taken  from  him  (next  unto  Samuel  Nashes 
land)  for  publicke  use."  A  second  addition  to  his 
landed  estate  occurred  in  1645  at  Bridgewater. 
Bridgewater  was  originally  a  plantation  granted  to 
Duxbury  in  compensation  for  Marshfield,  which 
was  taken  from  her.  The  grant  runs  as  follows: 

"The  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Duxbury  are 
granted  a  competent  proportion  of  lands  about 
Saughtuckquett,  towards  the  west,  for  a  planta- 
tion for  them,  and  to  have  it  four  miles  every  way 
from  the  place  where  they  shall  set  up  their  centre: 
provided  it  intrench  not  upon  Winnytuchquett,  for- 
merly granted  to  Plymouth.  And  we  have  nomi- 


96  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

nated  Captain  Miles  Standish,  Mr.  John  Alden, 
George  Soule,  Constant  Southworth,  John  Rogers, 
and  William  Brett,  to  be  feofees  in  trust  for  the 
equal  dividing  and  laying  forth  the  said  lands  to 
the  inhabitants." 

The  Bridgewater  property  passed  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  Pilgrim's  second  son,  Joseph,  prob- 
ably as  his  portion  of  the  paternal  estate,  and  al- 
lotted during  his  father's  lifetime.  The  latter  ended 
his  days  at  Duxbury,  where  the  greater  part  of  his 
eleven  children  were  born.  The  homestead  was 
inherited  by  his  third  son  Jonathan,  who  built  the 
house  which  still  stands  there,  and  under  whose 
roof  the  aged  Pilgrim  spent  his  later  days. 

John  Alden  died  September  twelve,  1687,  in  the 
eighty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  having  been  born 
about  1599.  The  place  of  his  burial  is  not  known, 
but  it  was  most  likely  upon  a  knoll  in  Duxbury  in 
the  southeastern  part  of  Harden  Hill.  Here  was 
the  first  cemetery  in  the  town,  and  it  was  used  as  a 
burial  place  at  least  sixty  years  after  the  town's 
organization,  and  was  not  abandoned  until  several 
years  after  Mr.  Alden's  death. 

No  stones  have  survived  the  wear  of  the  two 
centuries  since  that  time,  and  it  is  much  to  be 
doubted  if  any  were  ever  erected  there.  In  the 


PL  YMOUTH  MAGISTKA  TE  97 

early  days  all  mortuary  monuments  were  imported 
from  England,  and  only  at  great  expense,  and  in 
consequence  were  little  used.  We  know  beside 
from  the  annals  of  Plymouth  that  it  was  thought 
best  to  conceal  deaths  from  the  Indians  as  far  as 
possible,  and  so  the  custom  arose  of  not  marking 
the  last  resting  place  of  those  gone  upon  their  final 
pilgrimage. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  the  Pilgrim's  estate  in- 
ventoried only  some  fifty  pounds  sterling.  But 
this  is  hardly  a  fair  index  to  his  actual  property,  as 
the  greater  portion  of  his  possessions,  including 
probably  all  his  land  holdings,  had  been  deeded  to 
his  children.  While  he  had  never  been  a  rich  man, 
even  for  Plymouth  Colony,  he  was  always  well-to- 
do,  and  as  early  as  1633  was  one  °f  tne  mne  heav- 
iest rated  property  holders  of  his  town. 

The  inventory  is  to  be  found  in  the  Plymouth 
County  Probate  Records,  and  like  all  such  records 
of  ancestral  personal  properties,  possesses  an  in- 
timate interest  for  all  who  would  read  in  the  lists 
of  their  forefathers'  treasures  something  of  the 
needs,  the  activities  and  the  tastes  of  men  of  other 
days.  The  inventory  is  as  follows: 

The  Eighth  day  of  November  1687  Administration  was 
Granted  unto  Leiutt  Jonathan  Alden  to  Administer  upon 


98  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

the  Estate  of  his  father  Mr  John  Alden  late  of  Duxbury 
deceased 

An  Inventory  taken  of  the  Estate  of  the  late  deceased 
Mr  John  Alden  October  31  day  1687 

£  s      d 

Neate  Cattell  sheep  Swine  &  one  horse  13  . . 

one  Table  one  forme  one  Carpit  one  Cubert  & 

coubert  Cloth  . .  15 

2  Chaires  . .  .3 

bedsteds  Chests  &  boxes  . .  15 

Andirons  pot  hookes  and  hangers  ..  .8    .6 

pots  Tongs  one  quort  kettle  . .  10 

by  brass  ware  .1  11 

by  1  ads  Is  6d  &  saws  7s  . .  .8    .6 

by  Augurs  and  Chisells  . .  .5 

by  wedges  5s  to  Coupers  tooles  1£  2s  .1.7.. 

one  Carpenters  Joynters  . .     .1.6 

Cart  boults  Cleavie  Exseta  . .  13 

driping  pan  &  gridirons  . .  .5 

by  puter  ware  1  pound  12s  by  old  Iron  3«  .1  15    . . 

by  2  old  guns  . .  11 

by  Table  linen  &  other  linen  .1  12 

To  beding  .5  12 

one  Spitt  Is  6d  &  baggs  2s  ...3.6 

one  mortising  axe  . .  .1 
marking  Iron  a  Case  of  trenchers  with  other 

things  ..  .7    .. 


PL  Y MOUTH  MA  CIS  TRA  TE  99 

hamen  and  winch  exse 

by  one  goume  and  a  bitt  of  linnin  Cloth  . .     .7 

by  one  horse  bridle  and  Saddle  liberary  and 

Cash  and  weareing  Clothes  18    .9 

by  other  old  lumber  . .    15 


Before  Nathaniel  Thomas  Esqr  Judge  of  the  Inferior 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  the  8th  day  of  November  1687 
Leiut  Jonathan  Alden  made  oath  that  this  is  a  true  In- 
ventory of  the  Estate  of  his  father  Mr  John  Alden  de- 
ceased soe  farr  as  he  knoweth  &  when  he  knoweth  more 
he  will  discover  the  same 

Nath  11  Thomas  Cler. 

Mr.  Alden  left  no  will,  and  his  son  Jonathan,  at 
whose  house  he  died,  was  appointed  administrator 
of  his  small  remaining  estate,  as  the  above  entries 
indicate.  That  this  office  was  satisfactorily  ful- 
filled by  him  we  have  evidence  in  the  following  cer- 
tification of  settlement: 

Wee  whose  names  are  Subscribed  being  personally  In- 
terested in  the  then  Estate  of  John  Alden  senior  of 
Duxbury  Esqr  lately  deceased  doe  hereby  acknowledge 
our  selves  to  have  Received  Each  of  us  our  full  Personall 
proportions  thereof  from  Jonathan  Alden  Administrator 


ioo  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

&  thereof  Doe  by  these  prsents  for  our  selves  our  heires 

&c  Exonerate  acquit  &  Discharge  fully  the  said  Jonathan 

Alden  his  heires  &c  for  Ever  of  &  from  all  Rights  dues 

demands  whatsoever  Relateing  to  the  aforesd  Estate  In 

Witness  Whereof  we  have  hereunto  Subscribed  &  sealed 

this  thirteenth  day  of  June  Ano  Dom  1688.    Jacobi  2di  4to 

John  Alden  (Seal) 

Joseph  Alden  (Seal) 

David  Alden  (Seal) 

Prisilla  Alden  (Seal) 

William  Paybody  (Seal) 

Elexander  Standish  (Seal) 

in  ye  Right  of  my  wife  Sarah  deceased 
John  Bass  (Seal) 

in  ye  Right  of  my  wife  Ruth  deceased 
Mary  Alden  (Seal) 

Thomas  Dillano  (Seal) 


CHAPTER    VII. 


CHARACTERISTICS. 

N  Bradford's  Journal,  year  1634,  is  the 
story  of  a  roil  in  connection  with 
Plymouth's  trading  post  on  the  Ken- 
nebec  River  in  which  appears  the 
name  of  John  Alden.  It  is  the  one 
contemporary  account,  which  has 
come  down  to  us,  of  an  adventure  in 
which  his  name  is  to  be  found,  and 
may  be  quoted  in  the  governor's  own 
quaint  phraseology: 

"  Now  it  so  fell  out,  that  one  Hocking,  belong- 
ing to  ye  plantation  of  Pascataway,  wente  with  a 
barke  and  comodities  to  trade  in  that  river,  and 
would  needs  press  into  their  limites;  and  not  only 
so,  but  would  needs  goe  up  ye  river  above  their 
house  (towards  ye  falls  of  ye  river),  and  intercept 
the  trade  that  should  come  to  them. 

"  He  that  was  cheefe  of  ye  place  forbad  them, 
and  prayed  him  that  he  would  not  offer  them  that 
injurie,  nor  goe  aboute  to  infring  their  liberties, 
which  had  cost  them  so  dear.  But  he  answered  he 
would  goe  up  and  trade  ther  in  despite  of  them, 
and  lye  ther  as  longe  as  he  pleased. 


102  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

"  The  other  tould  him  he  must  then  be  forced  to 
remove  him  from  thence,  or  make  seasure  of  him  if 
he  could.  He  bid  him  doe  his  worste,  and  so  wente 
up,  and  anchored  ther.  The  other  tooke  a  boat  & 
some  men  &  went  up  to  him,  when  he  saw  his  time, 
and  againe  entreated  him  to  departe  by  what  per- 
swasion  he  could. 

"But  all  in  vaine:  he  could  gett  nothing  of  him 
but  ill  words.  So  he  considered  that  now  was  ye 
season  for  trade  to  come  downe,  and  if  he  should 
suffer  him  to  lye,  &  take  it  from  them,  all  their 
former  charge  would  be  lost,  and  they  had  better 
throw  up  all.  So,  consulting  with  his  men,  (who 
were  willing  thertoe,)  he  resolved  to  put  him  from 
his  anchores,  and  let  him  drive  downe  ye  river  with 
ye  streame;  but  comanded  ye  men  yt  none  should 
shoote  a  shote  upon  any  occasion,  except  he  com- 
anded them.  He  spoake  to  him  againe,  but  all  in 
vaine;  then  he  sente  a  cuple  in  a  canow  to  cutt  his 
cable,  the  which  one  of  them  performes;  but  Hock- 
ing taks  up  a  pece  which  he  had  layed  ready,  and 
as  ye  barke  shered  by  ye  canow,  he  shote  him  close 
under  her  side,  in  ye  head,  (as  I  take  it,)  so  he  fell 
downe  dead  instantly. 

"  One  of  his  fellows  (that  loved  him  well)  could 
not  hold,  but  with  a  muskett  shot  Hocking,  who 


CHARACTERISTICS  103 

fell  down  dead  and  never  speake  word.  This  was 
ye  truth  of  ye  thing.  The  rest  of  ye  men  carried 
home  the  vessell  and  ye  sad  tidings  of  these  things. 
Now  ye  Lord  Saye  &  ye  Lord  Brooks,  with  some 
other  great  persons,  had  a  hand  in  this  plantation; 
they  write  home  to  them,  as  much  as  they  could 
to  exasperate  them  in  ye  matter,  leaving  out  all  ye 
circumstances,  as  if  he  had  been  kild  without  any 
offenc  of  his  parte,  conceling  yt  he  had  kild  another 
first,  and  ye  just  occasion  that  he  had  given  in 
offering  such  wrong;  at  which  their  Lordsps  were 
much  offended,  till  they  were  truly  informed  of  ye 
mater. 

"  The  bruite  of  this  was  quickly  carried  all 
aboute,  (and  yt  in  ye  worst  maner,)  and  came  into 
ye  Bay  to  their  neighbours  their.  Their  owne 
barke  coming  home,  and  bringing  a  true  relation 
of  ye  matter,  sundry  were  sadly  affected  with  ye 
thing,  as  they  had  cause.  It  was  not  long  before 
they  had  occasion  to  send  their  vessell  into  ye  Bay 
of  ye  Massachusetts;  but  they  were  so  prepossesst 
with  this  matter,  and  affected  with  ye  same,  as 
they  comited  Mr.  Alden  to  prison,  who  was  in  ye 
bark,  and  had  been  at  Kenebeck,  but  was  no  actore 
in  ye  business,  but  wente  to  carie  them  supply. 
They  dismist  ye  barke  aboute  her  bussines,  but 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 


kept  him  for  some  time.  This  was  thought  strang 
here,  and  they  sente  Capten  Standish  to  give  them 
true  information,  (together  with  their  letters,)  and 
ye  best  satisfaction  they  could,  and  to  procure  Mr. 
Alden's  release." 

Captain  Standish  fulfilled  his  mission  and  pro- 
cured his  friend's  release,  but  only  by  suffering 
himself  to  be  bound  over  to  the  Bay  Colony's  court 
to  vouch  for  the  truth  of  his  relation  and  the  gen- 
uineness of  Plymouth's  patent  of  jurisdiction  over 
the  Kennebec  region.  This  high-handed  procedure 
on  the  part  of  Massachusetts  justly  angered  the 
authorities  of  her  sister  colony,  and  a  sharp  corre- 
spondence ensued  before  the  affair  was  finally 
smoothed  over  in  face  of  an  attack  in  England  up- 
on colonial  liberties,  which  compelled  them  all  to 
stand  together. 

But  as  Governor  Bradford  adds,  "they  con- 
ceived they  were  unjustly  injured,  and  provoked  to 
what  was  dorie;  and  that  their  neighbors  (haveing 
no  jurisdiction  over  them)  did  more  than  was  mete, 
thus  to  imprison  one  of  theirs,  and  bind  them  to 
their  courte." 

In  estimating  the  character  of  Pilgrim  Alden  one 
is  struck,  first  of  all,  as  in  the  case  of  so  many  other 
of  the  founders  of  the  American  nation,  with  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  105 

many-sidedness  of  his  interest  and  achievement. 
He  was  master-mechanic,  a  farmer,  a  soldier,  prob- 
ably a  sailor,  a  magistrate,  a  man  of  affairs.  To 
be  sure  no  one  of  these  professions,  then  demanded 
complex  training  or  great  learning  as  in  modern 
times.  This  was  so  even  in  England,  and  much 
more  in  the  little  settlement  clinging  to  the  hem  of 
the  wilderness. 

In  such  a  community  versatility  was  necessarily 
the  prime  requisite  of  success  —  far  more  essential 
than  great  proficiency  in  one  branch  of  achieve- 
ment coupled  with  ineptitude  in  others.  The  col- 
onization of  America,  and  above  all  of  New  Eng- 
land, was  an  effort  to  transplant  full-blown  the 
civilization  which  in  Europe  was  the  heritage  of 
centuries  of  slow  growth.  The  many  sides  of  that 
civilization,  its  civic  and  religious  duties,  its  long- 
established  customs,  were  all  to  be  included  in  the 
activities  of  the  new  plantation,  its  sprout  and  off- 
shoot. 

But  there  was,  beside,  a  wilderness  to  conquer, 
and  all  too  few  hands  for  its  rough  labors.  Nat- 
urally under  such  circumstances  the  type  of  set- 
tler most  in  need  and  demand  was  the  man  of 
many  skills,  the  man  of  ready  hand  and  adaptive 
mind.  Such  an  one,  if  he  had  also  stout  heart 


106  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

and  hopeful  spirit,  would  be  drawn  as  by  a  magnet 
to  the  venture,  finding-  there  the  proper  field  for  his 
talents.  John  Alden  was  so  drawn. 

It  was  not  chance  or  fate  that  made  him  a  Pil- 
grim fighter  of  the  wilds;  it  was  his  native  fitness 
for  the  work.  And  to  him  and  the  many  others  of 
his  kind, —  the  apt  and  the  ready, —  is  very  properly 
ascribed  the  beginning  of  the  American  people. 
They  were  fated  to  be  the  forefathers  of  a  race 
whose  versatile  genius  should  be  the  marvel  of  man- 
kind; for  to  this  end  they  were  chosen  by  Nature 
who  created  them  true  Americans  even  before  their 
feet  had  turned  aside  from  the  green  meadows  of 
old  England. 

Tradition  represents  John  Alden  as  a  man  of  fine 
physique,  as,  indeed,  must  have  been  all  who  sur- 
vived the  ravages  of  the  terrible  first  winter.  He 
was  said  to  be  the  tallest  man  in  the  colony,  and 
the  handsomest.  We  know  that  he  outlived  all 
of  his  grown  comrades  of  the  Mayflower  company, 
save  only  one  or  two  of  the  girls,  and  this  alone 
speaks  well  for  his  strength  and  vitality.  He  has 
proven,  beside,  father  of  a  long-lived  race. 

His  character,  we  are  told,  was  gentle  and  faith- 
ful, as  a  strong  man's  should  be.  He  was  much 
commended  for  his  piety  and  Godliness,  too,  and 


Snow-shoe  given  John  Alden  by  the  Indians. 

Halberd  from  cellar  of  Alden  House  ;  in  Pilgrim   Hall,  Plymouth 
John  Alden' s  Signature. 


CHARACTERISTICS  107 

his  ancient  Bible,  preserved  in  Pilgrim  Hall,  bears 
still  the  pious  token  of  his  thumb.  In  England  he 
was  most  likely  a  Puritan,  but  in  Plymouth  and 
Duxbury  he  was  identified  with  the  Congregation- 
alist  Church  of  the  Pilgrims. 

An  eloquent  tongue  is  another  trait  in  which  he 
foreshadowed  an  American  characteristic ;  and  he  is 
said  to  have  been  fond  of  military  ways  —  a  taste 
which  was  to  find  fuller  expression  among  his  de- 
scendants. But  perhaps  the  last  word  which  is 
to  be  spoken  —  the  key  to  his  personality  —  is  the 
first  which  we  have  recorded.  He  was  a  "  hopfull 
yonge  man,  and  was  much  desired." 

Index  of  finer  character  could  not  be  found,  for 
hopefulness  amid  the  sickness  and  death  of  that 
dread  first  season  was  not  a  quality  like  to  live  in 
any  save  a  blithe  and  tender  heart,  and  we  may 
well  believe  that  finding  in  him  a  spirit  of  cheer  the 
weary  Pilgrims  were  wistful  of  his  stay. 

In  certain  quarters  John  Alden  has  been  criticised 
because  he  countenanced  the  laws  which  Plymouth 
enacted  against  the  Quakers,  and,  in  his  capacity 
of  magistrate,  executed  them.  Such  criticism  is 
unjust.  As  magistrate  it  was  his  duty  to  carry  out 
the  law,  and  the  statutes  themselves,  which,  no 
doubt,  he  helped  to  frame,  were  neither  severe  nor 


io8  PILGRIM  ALDEh 

actuated  by  a  spirit  of  intolerance.  The  Quaker 
craze  —  it  can  be  termed  no  less  —  which  swept 
over  New  England  in  the  fifties  of  the  Seventeenth 
century  stood  for  principles  not  unlike  those  of  the 
anarchy  of  the  present  day. 

The  Quakers  were  almost  invariably  eloquent 
scolds,  and  they  deemed  it  their  mission  to  outrage 
the  sense  of  decency,  insult  the  religion,  and  defy 
the  laws  of  the  communities  in  which  they  lived. 
It  was  for  what  we  term  misdemeanors,  and  not 
for  their  religious  opinions  that  the  Quakers  were 
punished.  Their  offences  were  against  civil  law. 
The  severest  penalty  which  Plymouth  inflicted 
upon  them  was  banishment;  and  this,  in  those  days, 
meant  little  more  than  the  procedure  so  common  in 
country  districts  in  our  own  day,  of  advising  the 
unruly  citizen  to  "  move  on."  Generally  peaceful 
isolation  little  suited  the  proselyting  spirit  of  the 
religious  reformer,  and  he  would  return  again  to 
challenge  the  ways  of  the  community  he  had  out- 
raged, and  occasionally  upon  a  too  obstreperous 
return  was  whipped  for  his  temerity. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  spirit  of 
Plymouth  should  have  been  roused  against  those 
who  sought,  as  the  early  Quakers  undoubtedly  did 
seek,  to  create  dissension  and  division  in  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  109 

church  fellowship  which  her  founders  had  crossed 
the  sea  to  preserve  and  expended  such  price  of 
labor  and  life  to  nurture  in  freedom  and  peace.  And 
yet  there  is  evidence  enough  that  the  Old  Colony 
was  not  over-harsh. 

Surely  the  proclamation  of  a  day  of  prayer  and 
fasting  to  beseech  of  the  Lord  deliverance  from 
drought  and  Indians,  and  from  "the  scourge  of 
Quakers,"  speaks  more  of  long-suffering  and  pa- 
tience under  affliction  than  of  malevolent  intoler- 
ance. And  runs  an  ancient  entry  of  1660: 
"  Whereas  there  is  a  constant  monthly  meeting  of 
Quakers  from  Divers  places  in  great  numbers, 
which  is  very  offensive  and  may  prove  greatly 
prejudicial  to  the  government,  and  as  the  most 
constant  place  for  such  meetings  is  at  Duxbury, 
the  Court  have  desired  and  appointed  C.  South- 
worth  and  W.  Pabodie  to  repair  to  such  meetings, 
together  with  the  marshal  or  constable  of  the  town, 
and  to  use  their  best  endeavors,  by  argument 
and  discourse,  to  convince  or  hinder  them." 

Perhaps  the  best  vindication,  if  any  were  needed 
for  Magistrate  Alden's  sentencings,  is  to  be  taken 
from  the  mouth  of  one  who  suffered  at  the  hand  of 
the  court  in  which  he  sat.  In  1657  a  Quaker  named 
Humphrey  Norton,  —  who  was  probably  insane, 


no  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

for  he  claimed  to  be  a  prophet, —  addressed  abusive 
letters  to  members  of  the  court  that  had  banished 
him. 

And  one  of  them  began:  "John  Alden,  I  have 
weighed  thy  waies,  and  thou  art  like  one  fallen 
from  thy  first  love;  a  tenderness  once  I  did  see 
in  thee  and  moderation  to  act  like  a  sober  man; 
which  through  evill  councell  and  selfe  love  thou  art 
drawn  aside  from."  That  the  letter  continues  with 
abuse,  matters  little.  The  man  was  crazed,  and  he 
believed  himself  persecuted.  But  even  so,  we  have 
his  gracious  phrase  —  "a  tenderness  once  I  did 
see  in  thee  and  moderation."  With  this  and  with 
Bradford's  gentle  words  we  may  be  sure  that  we 
have  the  characteristics  that  made  the  youth  one 
"much  desired"  —  the  moderation  and'  tenderness 
and  hopefulness  of  the  most  loveable  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers. 

There  is  an  old-time  elegy  by  the  Reverend 
John  Cotton  "  on  the  death  of  the  honourable 
John  Alden,  for  many  years  magistrate  of  Old 
Plymouth,"  with  which  it  is  ever  fitting  to  close 
memoir  of  him: 

The  staff  of  bread,  and  water  eke  the  stay. 
From  sinning  Tudah  C5od  will  take  away: 


CHARACTERISTICS  in 

The  prudent  counsellor,  the  honorable, 

Whom  grace  and  holiness  makes  delectable, 

The  judge,  the  prophet,  and  the  ancient  saint; 

The  deaths  of  such  cause  sorrowful  complaint. 

The  earth  and  its  inhabitants  do  fall, 

The  aged  saint  bears  up  its  pillars  all. 

The  hoary  head  in  way  of  righteousness 

A  crown  of  glory  is.      Who  can  express 

Th'  abundant  blessings  by  disciples  old! 

In  every  deed  they're  more  than  can  be  told. 

The  guise  'tis  of  a  wanton  generation 

To  wish  the  aged  soon  might  quit  their  station. 

Though   truth  it  be,  the   Lord  our  God  does  frown. 

When  aged  saints  by  death  do  tumble  down. 

What  though  there  be  not  such  activity, 

Yet  in  their  prayers  there's  such  fervency 

As  doth  great  mercy  for  a  place  obtain, 

And   gracious   presence   of   the    Lord   maintain. 

Though  nature's  strength  in  old  age  doth  decay, 

Yet   the  inward   man   renew'd  is  day   by   day. 

The  very  presence  of  a  saint  in  years, 

Who  lifts  his  soul  to  God  with  pray'rs  and  tears. 

Is  a  rich  blessing  unto  any  place, 

Who  have  that  mercy  to  behold  his  face. 

When  sin  is  ripe  and  calls  for  desolation 

God  will  call  home  old  saints  from  such  a  nation. 


112 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 


Let  sinners  then  of  th'  aged  weary  be. 

God  give  me  grace  to  mourn  most  heartily 

For  death  of  this  dear  servant  of  the  Lord, 

Whose  life  God  did  to  us  so  long  afford. 

God  lent  his  life  to  greater  length  of  days; 

In  which  he  liv'd  to  his  Redeemer's  praise. 

In  youthful  time  he  made  Moses  his  choice, 

His  soul  obeying  great  Jehovah's  voice, 

Freely  forsook  the  world  for  sake  of  God, 

In  his  house  with  his  saints  to  have  abode. 

He  followed  God  into  this  wilderness; 

Thereby  to  all  the  world  he  did  profess. 

Affliction  with  his  saints  a  better  part 

And  more  delightful  to  his  holy  heart, 

Than  sinful  pleasures,  lasting  but  a  season. 

Thus   said   his   faith,   so    saith    not   carnal    reason. 

He  came  one  of  the  first  into  this  land. 

And  here  was  kept  by  God's  most  gracious  hand 

Years  sixty-seven,  which  time  he  did  behold 

To  poor  New  England  mercies  manifold. 

All  God's  great  works  to  this  his  Israel 

From  first  implanting  that  to  them  befell; 

Of  them  he  made  a  serious  observation. 

And  could  of  them  present  a  large  narration. 

His  walk  was  holy,  humble,  and  sincere. 

His  heart  was  filled  with  Jehovah's  fear, 


CHARACTERISTICS  113 

He  honour'd  God  with  much  integrity, 

God  therefore  did  him  truly  magnify, 

The  heart  of  saints  entirely  did  him  love, 

His  uprightness  so  highly  did  approve, 

That  whilst  to  choose  they  had  their  liberty 

Within  the  limits  of  this  Colony, 

Their  civil  leader,  him  they  ever  chose. 

His  faithfulness  made  hearts  with  him  to  close. 

With  all  the  governours  he  did  assist; 

His  name  recorded  is  within  the  list 

Of  Plymouth's  pillars  to  his  dying  day. 

His  name  is  precious  to  eternal  day. 

He  set  his  love  on  God  and  knew  his  name, 

God  therefore  gives  him  everlasting  fame. 

So  good  and  heav'nly  was  his  conversation, 

God  gave  long  life,  and  show'd  him  his  salvation. 

His  work  now  finished  upon  this  earth; 

Seeing  the  death  of  what  he  saw  the  birth, 

His  gracious  Lord  from  heaven  calls  him   home 

And  saith,  my  servant,  now  to  heaven  come; 

Thou  hast  done  good,  been  faithful  unto  me, 

Now  shalt  thou  live  in  bliss  eternally. 

On  dying  bed  his  ails  were  very  great, 

Yet  verily  his  heart  on  God  was  set. 

He  bare  his  griefs  with  faith  and  patience, 

And  did  maintain  his  lively  confidence; 


H4  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Saying  to  some,  the  work,  which  God  begun, 
He  would  preserve  to  its  perfection. 
His  mouth  was  full  of  blessings  till  his  death 
To  ministers  and  Christians  all;  his  breath 
Was  very  sweet  by  many  a  precious  word 
He  utter'd  from  the  spirit  of  his  Lord, 
He  liv'd  in  Christ,  in  Jesus  now  he  sleeps; 
And  his  blest  soul  the  Lord  in  safety  keeps. 

JOHN  ALDEN,  Anagram,  END  AL  ON  HI. 
Death  puts  an  end  to  all  this  world  enjoys, 
And  frees  the  saints  from  all,  that  here  annoys. 
This  blessed  saint  has  seen  an  end  of  all 
Worldly  perfections.     Now  his  Lord  doth  call 
Him  to  ascend  from  earth  to  heaven  high, 
Where  he  is  blessed  to  all  eternity. 
Who  walk  with  God  as  he,  shall  so  be  blessed, 
And  evermore  in  Christ  his  arms  shall  rest. 
Lord,  spare  thy  remnant,  do  not  us  forsake, 
From  us  do  not  thy  holy  spirit  take. 
Thy  cause,  thy  int'rest  in  this  land  still  own 
Thy  gracious  presence  ay  let  be  our  own. 


John  Alden's  Chair   (owned  by  Mrs.   Geo.  Boiling, 

Brockton,   Mass.) 

Cabinet    brought    from     England    by   John    Alden, 
(owned  by  Wm.  H.  Alden,  Lansdowne,  Pa.) 


CHAPTER.    VIII. 


THE  DAUGHTER.  OF  THE  NORMAN. 

T  was  a  fair  day  to  live  —  that  four- 
teenth day  of  October,  Anno  Domini 
1066.  The  harvest  was  gathered  and 
the  sweetness  and  spice  of  autumn  was 
in  all  the  mellow  air.  There  were  deer 
for  the  pr;ce  of  a  bow-shot  in  the 
glades  of  the  changing  forest,  and  the 
sun-flecked  meadows  and  hill-slopes 
were  pleasant  to  the  eye. 

Yes,  it  was  a  fair  day  for  living  yonder 
in  Sussex  nigh  to  the  town  of  Hastings,  but 
a  fair  day  for  dying,  too,  when  the  death  was 
to  be  for  the  fatherland  and  the  hearthside  or  yet 
for  leal  love  of  gallant  lord,  for  God's  cause,  and 
salvation.  And  if  it  were  well  to  die  for  these 
things,  so  were  there  many  stout  carls  and  many 
brave  earls,  and  knights  and  squires  not  a  few 
fated  to  know  that  weal  on  that  day. 

There  was  a  hill-crest  and  a  breastwork  of  wat- 
tling and  staves  and  serried  ranks  of  Saxon  axe- 
men biding  the  onslaught.  High  above  them 
floated  the  golden  and  jewelled  banner  of  Harold 


n6  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

the  King,  bravest  and  noblest  of  the  rulers  of  Brit- 
ain since  the  great  Alfred  had  been  laid  away. 

Athwart  the  fields  another  banner  was  advanc- 
ing, borne  by  the  good  Knight  Tosteins  Fitz-Rou 
le  Blanc,  the  banner  consecrated  and  blessed  by  the 
Pope  —  for  this  was  a  holy  cause  which  was  bring- 
ing the  Norman  invader  into  England.  While  the 
Confessor  was  yet  alive,  Harold  had  visited  Nor- 
mandy, and  there  Duke  William  had  forced  him  to 
swear  a  great  oath,  over  the  bones  of  saints,  that 
William  should  be  king  of  England  when  Edward 
died.  And  however  extorted,  such  an  oath  was 
sacred  and  not  lightly  to  be  cast  aside.  So  all  over 
Europe  the  clergy  had  proclaimed  William's  war 
a  holy  war,  and  the  Pope  had  blessed  and  conse- 
crated the  banner  that  should  lead  to  victory.  And 
now  it  was  being  borne  forward  by  the  good 
Knight  Tosteins  Fitz-Rou  le  Blanc,  and  with  it 
were  advancing  fifty  thousand  knights  of  Nor- 
mandy and  France,  and  of  squires  and  men-at- 
arms  ten  thousand  more.  Before  all  that  host 
rode  Taillefer,  the  lutesman,  singing  the  ancient 
Chanson  de  Roland,  the  prowess  and  chivalry  of 
the  great  Knights  Paladin. 

The  day  before  there  had  come  to  the  Saxon 
camp  a  monk  called  Hugues  Maigrot  bringing 


THE  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  1 1 7 

from  William  a  message :  "  Go  and  tell  Harold 
that  if  he  will  keep  his  former  compact  with  me, 
I  will  leave  him  all  the  country  which  is  beyond  the 
Humber,  and  will  give  his  brother  Gurth  all  the 
lands  which  Godwin  held.  If  he  still  persist  in  re- 
fusing my  offers,  then  thou  shalt  tell  him,  before  all 
his  people,  that  he  is  a  perjurer  and  a  liar,  that  he 
and  all  who  shall  support  him  are  excommunicated 
by  the  mouth  of  the  Pope,  and  that  the  bull  to  that 
effect  is  in  my  hands." 

At  the  dread  word,  "  excommunicated,"  the  Eng- 
lish Aethelings  turned  pale.  Yet  they  were  men  who 
loved  their  homes  more  than  they  feared  hell,  and 
one  of  them  spoke  for  his  fellows :  "  We  must 
fight,  whatever  may  be  the  danger  to  us;  for  what 
we  have  to  consider  is  not  whether  we  shall  ac- 
cept and  receive  a  new  lord,  as  if  our  king  were 
dead;  the  case  is  quite  otherwise.  The  Norman 
has  given  our  lands  to  his  captains,  to  his  knights, 
to  all  his  people,  the  greater  part  of  whom  have 
already  done  homage  to  him  for  them.  They  will 
all  look  for  their  gift  if  their  Duke  become  our 
King;  and  he  himself  is  bound  to  deliver  up  to 
them  our  goods,  our  wives,  and  our  daughters; 
all  is  promised  to  them  beforehand.  They  come,  not 
only  to  ruin  us,  but  to  ruin  our  descendants  also, 


n8  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

and  to  take  from  us  the  country  of  our  ancestors. 

"And  what  shall  we  do,  whither  shall  we  go,  when 
we  have  no  hunger  a  country?  "  It  is  little  strange 
that  they  chose  to  fight  for  their  own,  —  even 
though  the  numbers  of  their  foemen  far  exceeded 
theirs;  even  though  they  were  weakened;  and  sore 
and  wounded  from  the  just-fought  battle  against 
another  invader,  Hardrada  of  Norway;  aye,  even 
though  hell  yawned  to  receive  them  dead  —  for  that 
was  what  to  them  meant  the  Pope's  excommunica- 
tion. 

The  battle  was  opened  by  that  same  Taillefer,  the 
lutesman.  Wrote  the  old  chronicler:  "And 
when  they  drew  nigh  to  the  English,  'A  boon, 
sire! '  cried  Taillefer.  '  I  have  long  served  you, 
and  you  owe  me  for  all  such  service.  Today,  so 
please  you,  you  shall  repay  it.  I  ask  as  my  guer- 
don, and  I  beseech  you  for  it  earnestly,  that  you 
will  allow  me  to  strike  the  first  blow  in  the  battle! ' 
And  the  Duke  answered :  '  I  grant  it.'  Then 
Taillefer  put  his  horse  to  gallop,  charging  before 
all  the  rest,  and  struck  an  Englishman  dead,  driv- 
ing his  lance  below  the  breast  into  his  body,  and 
stretching  him  upon  the  ground.  Then  he  drew 
his  sword  and  struck  another,  crying  out:  '  Come 


THE  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  1 1 9 

on,  come  on!  What  do  ye  sirs?  Lay  on,  lay  on! ' 
And  at  the  second  blow  he  struck  the  English, 
pushed  forward  and  surrounded  and  slew  him. 
Forthwith  arose  the  noise  and  cry  of  war,  and  on 
either  side  the  people  put  themselves  in  motion. 
The  Normans  moved  on  to  the  assault,  and  the 
English  defended  themselves  well.  Some  were 
striking,  others  urging  onward,  all  were  bold  and 
cast  aside  fear.  And  now,  behold,  that  battle  was 
gathered  whereof  the  fame  is  yet  mighty.  Loud 
and  far  resounded  the  bray  of  the  horns  and  the 
shock  of  the  lances,  the  mighty  strokes  of  maces 
and  the  quick  clashing  of  swords." 

So  was  begun  the  memorable  battle  of  Hastings. 
Long  hours  of  fighting  followed.  The  Normans 
charged  again  and  again,  but  the  English  defended 
sturdily  and  beat  them  back,  ofttimes  with  much 
slaughter.  Harold's  men  were  for  the  most  part 
armed  with  great  two-handed  battle-axes,  and  for 
defense  they  bore  long  shields.  They  were  drawn 
up  in  a  solid  wedge  before  their  fortifications,  and 
against  their  tight-closed  ranks  the  Norman  lanc- 
ers hurled  themselves  in  vain. 

Neither  could  Duke  William's  archers  effect 
any  great  damage,  for  the  long  shields  defended 
well.  As  the  day  wore  on  the  Normans  advanced 


i2o  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

beyond  a  fosse,  or  ditch,  in  the  midst  of  the  plain, 
"  having  passed  it  in  the  fight  without  regarding 
it,"  as  the  chronicler  tells  us.  "  But  the  English 
charged  and  drove  the  Normans  before  them  till 
they  made  them  fall  back  upon  this  fosse,  over- 
throwing into  it  horses  and  men.  Many  were  to 
be  seen  falling  therein,  rolling  one  over  the  other, 
with  their  faces  to  the  earth,  unable  to  rise.  .  .  . 
At  no  time  during  the  day's  battle  did  so  many 
Normans  die  as  perished  in  that  fosse." 

It  was  then  that  the  day  seemed  lost  to  the  Nor- 
mans, but  the  Conqueror  was  a  leader  of  wit.  He 
bade  his  bowmen  shoot  their  arrows  up  into  the  air, 
so  that  falling  they  would  strike  the  English  in 
their  faces.  And  H!arold's(  men,  not  daring  to 
break  their  closed  ranks  lest  they  be  overborne  by 
the  Norman  cavalry,  formed  only  too  admirable  a 
target  for  this  archery.  Fate  feathered  the  shafts. 
Among  the  first  struck  was  King  Harold,  a  Nor- 
man arrow  putting  out  his  eye.  In  his  agony  he 
could  no  longer  keep  wary  watch  over  his  men. 
The  Normans  charged  and  again  fell  back;  but  this 
retreat  was  a  ruse  to  draw  the  English  in  pursuit. 
"  Like  fools  they  'broke  their  lines  and  pursued." 
Harold  had  not  allowed  this,  but  Harold  was 
blinded.  The  Normans  turned  on  their  pursuers, 


THE  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  1 2 1 

and  this  time  their  charge  bore  them  even  to  the 
golden  and  jewelled  banner  of  the  Saxotis  and  to 
the  King  there.  He  died  fighting,  and  with  him 
fought  and  died  the  bravest  Thanes  of  his  realm. 

"  The  English  were  in  great  trouble  at  having 
lost  their  King,  and  at  the  Duke's  having  con- 
quered their  standard;  but  still  they  fought  on,  and 
defended  themselves  long,  and  in  fact  till  the  day 
drew  to  a  close.  Then  it  clearly  appeared  to  all 
that  the  standard  was  lost,  and  the  news  had  spread 
throughout  the  army  that  Harold,  for  certain, 
was  dead,  and  all  saw  that  there  was  no  longer  any 
hope,  so  they  left  the  field,  and  those  fled  who 
could." 

Thus  ended  the  first  eventful  meeting  of  Norman 
and  Saxon  in  the  battle  which  gave  England  into 
the  hands  of  the  invader,  and  despoiled  her  ancient 
families  of  their  heritage.  The  boding  words  of 
the  Saxon  Thane  who  answered  Hugues  Maigrot 
on  the  day  before  the  battle  proved  all  too  true  a 
prophecy.  Into  the  keep  of  the  Normans  —  and 
none  too  gentle  a  keeping  it  was  —  were  delivered 
the  wives  and  the  daughters  and  the  houses  and  the 
goods  of  the  conquered  people,  and  strangers  be- 
came lords  in  the  land. 

King  Harold's  army  was  largely  made  up  of  men 


122  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

from  the  southern  and  eastern  counties  of  his  do- 
main. To  quote  once  more  the  Norman  chron- 
icler: "  Harold  had  summoned  his  men,  earls,  bar- 
ons and  vavasors,  from  the  castles  and  the  cities, 
from  the  ports,  the  villages  and  the  boroughs.  .  .  . 
Those  of  'London  had  come  at  once,  and  those 
of  Kent,  of  Hertfort  and  of  Essesse,  those  of  Suree 
and  Sussesse,  of  St.  Edmund  and  Sufoc,  of  Norwis 
and  Norfoc,  of  Cantorbierre  and  Stanfort,  Bedefort 
and  Hundetone,"  and  so  it  continues. 

Every  man  who  could  bear  arms  and  had  heard 
the  war-call  was  in  the  ranks  —  if  an  Earl  or  a 
Thane,  armed  with  buckler  and  axe  and  the  short 
Saxon  sword ;  if  yeoman  or  carl,  armed  with  scythe 
or  pick  or  stave,  whatever  weapon  lay  readymost. 
Among  them  there  was  more  than  one  Alden,  for 
the  name  was  common  among  the  freeholders  of 
the  counties  whence  the  army  came. 

And  with  the  men  "  of  Hertfort "  it  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  that  "  Aldene  "  who  held  land  from  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor  was  not  to  be  found  —  he  and 
his  father,  too,  as  their  duty  was,  fighting  for 
hearth  and  home,  for  wife  and  mother,  under  the 
blazoned  banner  of  King  Harold.  Only  when  the 
last  vengeful  stand  of  the  Saxons  at  the  edge  of  the 
forest  wreaked  parting  vengeance  on  the  pursuing 


THE  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN        1 2 3 

Normans  (William  of  Poictiers  tells  us  of  it),  the 
father  was  no  longer  with  the  son,  but  lay  out  on 
the  hill-slope,  stark  with  his  King.  And  so  it  came 
about  ten  years  later  when  the  great  census  was 
taken  that  the  scribe  entered  only  "Aldene  at  ejus 
mater  "  —  Alden  and  his  mother.  That  fourteenth 
day  of  October,  in  the  year  1066,  was  the  beginning 
of  dark  years  for  his  race. 

But  for  the  henchmen  of  William  the  Conqueror 
the  day's  battle  meant  something  far  other.  For 
them  it  meant  the  beginning  of  a  life  of  luxury  and 
culture,  of  knightly  chivalry  decked  in  all  the  splen- 
dor Saxon  wealth  could  buy.  Among  them  was 
one  Richard  de  Molinelles  —  so  called  from  the 
ville  and  castle  of  Molinelles,  or  Molineux,  in  Nor- 
mandy, which  was  built  by  Robert,  surnamed  "le 
Diable." 

And  it  is  from  this  Norman  family  of  Molinelles, 
or  Molyneux,  or  Molines,  as  it  is  variously  called, 
that  are  descended  the  English  families  of  Molineux 
and  Molyns  and  Mullens,  and  their  French  cousins, 
the  Moulin s  and  Molines.  And  to  one  of  them, 
William  Molines,  or  Mullins,  as  he  came  to  be 
called,  was  born  not  far  from  the  year  1600  a 
daughter,  whom  he  named  Priscilla,  after  that  Pris- 
cilla  Paul  abode  with  in  Corinth. 


124  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

History  tells  strange  coincidences,  and  time 
works  strange  reconciliations.  Five  centuries  and 
a  half  after  the  battle  of  Hastings,  Saxon  and  Nor- 
man, an  Alden  and  a  Molines,  again  meet.  But 
this  time  both  are  borne  in  the  invader's  vessel, 
and  the  battle  that  they  are  to  fight  will  be  fought 
standing  side  by  side,  for  it  is  a  battle  to  conquer  a 
wilderness  and  to  establish  their  mingled  blood  in 
a  new  land. 

When  early  in  the  Eleventh  century  Robert  le 
Diable  built  his  castle  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine, 
he  called  it  Molyneux  —  "  the  Mill  on  the  Waters  " 
—  perhaps  from  some  ancient  mill  located  there. 
From  this  Robert  sprang  two  families  which  took 
their  names  from  the  ancient  water-mill.  That 
Richard  de  Molinelles  who  followed  his  Norman 
Duke  to  England  acquired  from  Roger  de  Poitou 
an  estate  in  Lancashire,  and  thence  through  Adam 
de  Molinaus  (temp.  Stephen,  Rex),  and  his  grand- 
son Richard  came  the  English  Earls  of  Sefton,  and 
the  baronial  families  of  Molyneux  and  Molines,  and 
many  heads  of  manors  bearing  some  spelling  of  the 
ancient  name. 

But  in  Normandy  the  original  family  still  con- 
tinued. In  the  year  iiq8  William  de  Molines  built 
anew  the  castle  Molyneux,  and  long  after  that  time 


THE  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  1 25 

the  "  des  Moulins,"  as  they  came  to  be  called, 
were  prominent  among  the  gentle  families  of  Nor- 
mandy. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  William  Molines, 
the  father  of  Priscilla,  came  from  the  French  or 
from  the  English  branch  of  the  family.  There  are 
facts  pointing  in  each  direction.  The  name,  as  we 
have  seen,  might  be  either  French  or  English,  and 
the  same,  oddily  enough,  may  be  said  of  all  the 
Christian  names  that  have  come  down  to  us  in  Wil- 
liam Molines'  immediate  family.  Griffis  and  Baird 
say  that  Mr.  Molines  was  with  the  Pilgrims  at  Ley- 
den,  and  with  his  family  embarked  on  the  Speed- 
well at  Delfthaven,  and  we  know  that  a  Walloon, 
or  French-Protestant  Church  was  established  at 
Leyden  long  before  the  Scrooby  Congregation  ar- 
rived there;  and,  from  the  Dutch  marriage  records, 
that  there  were  Molines  among  them. 

Through  Winslow  and  others  we  learn  that  sev- 
eral of  the  French  joined  themselves  to  the  Pil- 
grim Church.  All  of  this  tends  to  support  the  gen- 
erally accepted  tradition  that  William  Molines  and 
his  family  were  French  Hugenots.  But  from  Mr. 
Molines  will  we  learn  that  he  had  a  married  daugh- 
ter in  England,  and  presumably  a  son  and  property 
there;  and  this  seems  to  point  to  an  English  birth 


i26  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

and  residence.  And  yet  the  daughter  lived,  and  the 
will  was  proved  in  the  county  of  Surrey,  far  to  the 
south  of  the  district  whence  the  Pilgrims  made 
their  way  to  Holland,  where  we  first  find  William 
Molines. 

It  seems  evident  enough  that  his  going  to  Ley- 
den  was  independent  of  theirs,  and  as  he  was  a 
man  of  some  property  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  he 
would  have  abandoned  an  estate  in  England,  with- 
out reason,  to  live  in  war-threatened  Holland.  It 
may  be,  therefore,  that  he  was  one  of  the  French 
Hugenots  in  Leyden  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of 
the  refugees  from  Scrooby,  and  that,  with  others 
of  his  nation,  he  joined  their  congregation  there. 

The  daughter  Sarah,  who  lived  in  Surrey,  may 
very  well  have  married  one  of  the  English  soldiers 
in  Holland,  who,  having  some  estate  in  England 
(for  why  should  her  father  leave  her  but  ten  shil- 
lings except  she  were  already  better  provided  for 
than  his  other  children?)  and  no  leaning  toward 
Congregationalism,  took  her  home  with  him  to 
live.  And  in  their  charge  may  have  been  left  Mr. 
Molines'  eldest  son  and  such  goods  as  he  chose  not 
to  take  with  him  when  he  cast  in  his  lot  with  the 
emigrants  to  America. 

The  Huguenots  were  to  France  what  the  Puri- 


THE  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  1 2  7 

tans  were  to  England.  They  were  Protestant  reb- 
els against  Romanism  and  against  the  corruption 
of  the  established  church.  But  reformation  found 
a  less  congenial  soil  across  the  channel.  There 
were  long  series  of  persecutions  culminating  in  the 
terrible  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day;  and 
so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  French  Protestants  were 
made  wanderers  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Many  of  them  fled  to  England,  and  many  to  Hol- 
land, where  for  the  most  part  they  joined  the 
congregations  of  their  kinsmen  the  Walloons, 
driven  from  Belgium  by  the  Spanish  Inquisition. 
As  early  as  1584  a  Walloon  church  had  been  formed 
at  Leyden,  and  in  the  congregation  were  included 
many  nobles  and  scholars  as  well  as  artisans,  from 
France  and  from  the  Catholic  provinces  of  the 
Netherlands. 

When  Robinsin's  congregation  arrived,  the 
Dutch  authorities  granted  them  together  with  their 
French  co-religionists  the  use  of  the  church  called 
St.  Catharine  Gasthuis.  Thus  from  the  very  first 
there  was  much  intercourse  between  the  two  na- 
tionalities. Several  of  the  English  as  we  know, 
and  among  them  Bradford,  were  apprenticed  to 
French  weavers.  Several  of  the  French,  on  the 
other  hand,  joined  the  English  Church,  and  when 


iz8  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

the  emigration  to  America  was  projected  attached 
themselves  to  the  company. 

We  know  little  enough  about  the  Pilgrims  Mo- 
lines.  They  bore  an  ancient  and  aristocratic  name, 
and  the  father  was  a  man  of  culture,  and,  for  the 
times  and  in  view  of  the  circumstances,  the  posses- 
sor of  a  not  inconsiderable  property.  He  was  ac- 
corded the  title  of  "  Master  "  in  Bradford's  entries. 
As  to  what  his  business  was  in  Leyden  we  can  only 
offer  a  conjecture  from  the  stock  of  boots  and 
shoes  which  he  carried  with  him  to  the  New  World, 
as  mentioned  in  his  will.  This  will,  in  fact,  tells 
us  the  most  of  his  history  that  we  know,  for  he 
died  early  in  that  first  dire  winter,  on  February 
twenty-one,  1621.  The  will  is  dated  April  two,  but 
this  is  doubtless  the  date  when  the  certified  copy 
was  signed.  In  the  old  records  it  is  given  as  fol- 
lows: 

2:     April  1621 

In  the  name  of  God  Amen:  I  comit  my  soule 
to  God  that  gave  it  and  my  bodie  to  the  earth  from 
whence  it  came.  Alsoe  I  give  my  goodes  as  follow- 
eth  That  fforty  poundes  in  the  hand  of  goodman 
Woodes  I  give  my  wife  tenn  poundes,  my  sonn 
Joseph  tenn  poundes,  my  daughter  Priscilla  tenn 
poundes,  and  my  eldest  sonne  tenn  poundes.  Alsoe 


THE  DA  LIGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  1 2  9 

I  give  to  my  eldest  sonne  all  my  debtes,  bonds,  bills 
(onelye  yt  forty  potmdes  excepted  in  the  handes 
of  goodman  Wood)  given  as  aforesaid  wth  all  the 
stock  in  his  owne  handes.  To  my  eldest  daughter  I 
give  ten  shillings  to  be  paid  out  of  my  sonnes  stock. 
Furthermore  that  goodes  I  have  in  Virginia  as  fol- 
loweth  To  my  wife  Alice  halfe  my  goodes  &  to 
Joseph  and  Priscilla  the  other  halfe,  equallie  to  be 
devided  betweene  them.  Alsoe  I  have  xxj  dozen 
of  shoes,  and  thirteene  paire  of  bootes  wch  I 
give  into  the  Companies  handes  for  forty  poundes 
at  seaven  yeares  and  if  they  like  them  at  that  rate. 
If  it  be  thought  to  deare  as  my  Overseers  shall 
thinck  good  And  if  they  like  them  at  that  rate 
at  the  divident  I  shall  have  nyne  shares  whereof  I 
give  as  followeth  twoe  to  my  wife,  twoe  to  my 
sonne  William,  twoe  to  my  sonne  Joseph,  twoe  to 
my  daughter  Priscilla,  and  one  to  the  Companie. 
Allsoe  if  my  sonne  William  will  come  to  Virginia 
I  give  him  my  share  of  land  furdermore  I  give  to 
my  twoe  Overseers  Mr  John  Carver  and  Mr  Wil- 
liamson, twentye  shillings  apeece  to  see  this  my 
will  performed  desiringe  them  that  he  would  have 
an  eye  over  my  wife  and  children  to  be  as  fathers 
and  friendes  to  them ;  Allsoe  to  have  a  speciall  eye 


1 3o  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

to  my  man  Robert  wch  hathe  not  so  approved 
himselfe  as  I  would  he  should  have  done. 

This  is  a  Coppye  of  Mr  Mullens  his  Will  of  all 
particulars  he  hathe  given.  In  witness  whereof  I 
have  sett  my  hande 

John  Carver,  Giles  Heale,  Christopher  Joanes. 

Vicesimo  tertio:  die  mensis  Julii  Anno  Domini 
Millesimo  sexcentesimo  vicesimo  primo  Emanavic 
Commissio  Sare  Blunden  als  Mullins  filie  naturali 
et  legitime  dicti  defuncti  ad  administrand  bona 
iura  et  credita  eiusdem  defuncti  iuxta  tenorem  et 
effectum  testamenti  suprascripti  eo  quod  nullum  in 
eodem  testamento  nominavit  executorem  de  bene 
etc  Jurat. 

(On  the  twenty-third  day  of  the  month  of  July, 
Anno  Domini  1621,  issued  a  commission  to  Sarah 
Blunden,  formerly  Mullins,  natural  and  legitimate 
daughter  of  the  said  deceased,  for  administering  the 
goods,  rights  and  credits  of  the  deceased,  according 
to  the  tenor  and  effect  of  the  above-written  testa- 
ment, inasmuch  as  he  named  no  executor  in  that 
testament.  In  due  form  &c  swears.) 
•  This  will  was  proved  in  Dorking,  in  county 
Surrey,  on  the  date  above  given.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  William  Molines,  Sr.,  died  on  board 
the  Mayflower,  for  the  two  witnesses  of  the 


THE  DA  UGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  1 3 1 

will  besides  Governor  Carver,  who  doubtless  drew 
it  up,  are  Giles  Heales  and  Christopher  Joanes  — 
the  surgeon  and  the  captain  of  that  vessel.  He 
died,  too,  little  witting  how  soon  his  wife  and  his 
son  Joseph  were  to  follow  him. 

Concerning  these,  or  the  dates  of  their  deaths, 
we  have  nothing  more  than  Bradford's  ever  laconic 
paragraph:  "  Mr.  Molines,  and  his  wife,  his  sone, 
and  his  servant,  dyed  the  first  winter."  Let  us 
hope  for  poor  Robert  Carter,  the  servant,  that  in 
death,  at  least,  he  so  approved  himself  as  his  master 
might  wish. 

That  was  a  sad  first  winter  for  the  maiden  Pris- 
cilla.  Father,  mother  and  brother,  one  by  one, 
were  laid  at  rest  on  the  little  knoll  by  the  seaside 
and  their  graves  were  levelled  over,  as  if  they  were 
not,  so  that  no  man  might  know  where  the  resting- 
place  was  or  disturb  them  in  their  long  sleep.  And 
wheat  was  sown  there  —  wheat  whereof  the  grain 
was  never  to  be  reaped;  which,  when  the  spring 
came,  covered  with  tender  and  velvety  green  the 
burial  goal  of  their  Pilgrimage. 

Well,  it  was  something  that  they  lay  not  beneath 
the  chill  waters  of  the  gray  Northern  sea;  that  they 
had  seen  the  promised  land  ere  their  eyes  forever 
closed,  and  had  touched  it  ere  the  last  long  numb- 


i3a  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

ness  deadened  touch  once  for  all;  that  they  had 
chosen  and  made  it  their  home  in  death.  Oh, 
those  graves  there,  on  the  little  knoll  by  the  sea- 
side, were  strong,  strong  fetters  to  bind  the  feet  of 
the  living  fast  to  that  land !  And  the  dead  —  were 
not  the  dead  pledge  and  hostage  stronger  to  hold 
them  than  grants  and  patents  of  kings?  Sacred 
pledge,  precious  hostage,  final  surety  that  that 
Pilgrim  band  would  not  turn  their  faces  from  the 
way  they  had  set! 

And  the  Huguenot  maiden  Priscilla  —  in  a 
strange,  wild  land,  amid  a  people  not  her  own, 
heartsick  and  homesick  and  weary.  Yet  she,  too, 
had  given  her  pledges  —  more  nobly  than  ever 
gave  knightly  sire  his  own.  Yonder  beneath  the 
greening  wheat  they  lay,  and  the  thought  of  them 
bound  and  held  her  steadfast. 

Yet  was  there  many  a  day  of  that  springtide, 
herself  but  half-awakened  from  the  winter's  night- 
mare, when  her  heart  turned  yearning  to  the 
brother  and  sister  still  beyond  the  sea,  and  her  eyes 
were  fain  to  behold  the  gay  tulip  beds  of  Holland 
or  yet  the  sunny  slopes  of  la  belle  France,  glorious 
as  ever  the  wistful  imagination  of  the  exile's  daugh- 
ter might  paint  her  Patrie.  And  on  such  days,  it 
may  be,  she  felt  the  tender,  silent  sympathy  of  the 


THE  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  133 

fair-haired  Saxon  youth,  and  yielded  herself  to  its 
gracious  comfort  with  all  the  abandonment  of  the 
sick  heart  —  nor  knew  yet  that  she  loved. 

But  there  were  other  eyes  that  beheld  her  sor- 
rowing, and  pitied  with  that  soft  pity  of  gentlest 
kin.  So  it  came  to  pass  one  sunny  day  that  the 
Saxon  youth  came  to  her,  with  eloquent  tongue 
but  pallid  lips,  to  do  his  friend's  errand.  He  had 
conquered  once  —  conquered  invading  jealousy  and 
self-desire,  and  had  buried  them  in  the  narrow  con- 
fines of  the  heart's  charnel,  even  as  King  Harold 
had  conquered  the  Norseman  and  buried  him  in  his 
"  seven  feet  of  English  soil."  But  the  harder 
battle  with  the  Norman  was  yet  to  be  fought,  and 
the  maid  bore  a  banner  not  lightly  to  be  withstood, 
for  it  was  concentrated  by  love. 

Yet  he  battled  well  and  spoke  as  a  true  Aetheling 
for  his  friend.  Perhaps  he  had  won  the  day  had 
the  god  of  war  prevailed  —  for  was  she  not  but  a 
frail,  strange  maid,  this  Norman  foe?  But  a  gentler 
deity  had  charge  over  the  issue,  and  so  when  the 
time  came,  from  a  bow  which  was  the  ruby  bow 
of  a  demoiselle's  lips,  he  sped  the  fateful  dart.  We 
all  know  it,  how  swift  it  flew  and  true  —  "Prithee, 
why  don't  you  speak  for  yourself,  good  Master 


i34  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

John?  "  Another  Harold  was  blinded,  and  another 
Hastings  won. 

''And  seeing  it  hath  pleased  Him  to  give  me  to 
see  thirty  years  compleated  since  these  beginnings; 
and  that  the  great  works  of  His  Providence  are 
to  be  observed,  I  have  thought  it  not  unworthy  my 
paines  to  take  a  view  of  the  decreasings  and  in- 
creasings  of  these  persons,  and  such  changes  as 
hath  pased  over  them  and  theirs  in  this  thirty 
years." 

Thus  wrote  Governor  Bradford  in  the  year  1650, 
as  he  was  about  to  add  the  last  lines  to  his  ever 
famous  Journal.  Of  one  entry  I  have  already 
quoted  part:  "  Mr.  Molines,  and  his  wife,  his  sone 
and  his  servant  dyed  the  first  winter."  To  this  part 
should  be  added:  "  Only  his  dougter  Priscila  sur- 
vied  and  married  with  John  Alden,  who  are  both 
living,  and  have  n  children.  And  their  eldest 
daughter  is  married,  and  hath  five  children." 

Of  the  life  of  Priscilla,  save  that  she  shared  the 
life  of  her  husband,  and  was  the  mother  of  children, 
we  know  little,  indeed.  Yet  is  there  no  necessity 
for  knowing  the  count  and  tale  of  her  daily  duties. 
For  we  can  picture  the  home-warding  from  ancient 
scenes  and  furnitures  and  the  old  ways  as  tradi- 
tion tells  them.  And  for  the  rest  —  what  she  was 


THE  DA  LIGHTER  OF  THE  NORMAN  135 

as  a  woman  and  what  her  life  meant  —  we  may  well 
judge  from  what  her  children  were;  for  after  all  a 
mother's  children  are  her  best  biography.  Of  these 
we  know  that  they  were  men  and  women  honorable 
and  honored,  brave  and  chivalrous  and  open- 
hearted,  a  comfort  to  their  mother's  eyes. 

When  Priscilla  died  is  not  known,  nor  where  she 
was  buried,  though  doubtless  this  was  nigh  where 
her  husband  was  afterwards  laid.  Let  us  hope  that 
she  abode  with  him  until  his  years  were  well  worn 
away,  and  was  one  of  those  "  twelfe  persons  liveing 
of  the  old  stock  this  present  yeare,  1679 "  as  *s 
added,  in  another  hand  than  Bradford's,  beneath 
the  lines  where  he  had  last  laid  aside  his  pen  twenty 
years  before. 

For  us  of  the  present  day  Priscilla  will  ever  re- 
main the  maiden  of  that  first  eventful  year  —  she 
whose  beauty  and  wit  have  been  the  tradition  of 
our  earliest  years,  the  charm  and  romance  of  our 
youth,  and  the  sunny  solace  of  our  graying  years. 
She  will  ever  remain  the  Priscilla  that  inspired  the 
sweetest  idyl  from  the  pen  of  that  poet,  who  but  for 
her  would  never  have  seen  light  of  day  to  lighten 
with  his  songs  the  days  of  others,  his  countrymen 
and  hers,  —  for  she,  too,  was  American. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


THE.    'WOOING    OF    PRISCILLA. 

HE  story  itself  is  simple  enough,  and  as 
handed  down  to  us,  bare  of  adornment, 
it  is  almost  archaic  in  its  directness  and 
point.     In  the  traditional  form  it  is  just 
the   naked   scaffolding  of  a   true-love 
tale,  but  withal  a  scaffold  so  firm  and 
substantial,  so  honestly  grounded  in 
the  enduring  basis  of  human  nature, 
that  it  has   served  long  and  well  to 
trellis  the  fair  foliage  and    fragrant    flowering  of 
romance  with  which  the  fancies  of  poet  and  novel- 
ist have  so  effectually  adorned  it. 

For,  indeed,  it  takes  little  in  the  way  of  fact  to 
serve  the  poet's  need  where  the  tale  to  be  told  is 
the  world-ancient  story  of  "  a  young  man's  way 
with  a  maid  "  (though  here,  perchance,  the  phrase 
should  be  reversed).  Just  as  the  scientist  recon- 
structs an  extinct  fish  from  a  single  scale  or  an 
ancient  mammal  from  a  chance-kept  bone,  so  the 
poet  taking  the  merest  hint  of  an  old-time  romance, 
clothes  it  with  the  flesh  and  blood  which  his  im- 
agination creates  —  which  we,  beholding,  are  per- 
suaded must  be  its  true  form  and  substance. 


THE  WOOING  OF  PR1SCILLA  137 

Now  there  are  certain  sour  historians  —  degener- 
ate successors  of  Father  Herodotus,  always  ready 
to  tell  a  good  story  in  default  of  a  fact,  —  who 
come,  unimpeachably  armed  with  their  canons 
of  evidence,  to  inform  us  that  the  story  of  the 
wooing  of  Priscilla  cannot  be  accepted  as  more 
than  ancient  gossip  until  it  presents  better  cre- 
dentials than  the  "  handed  down  by  tradition," 
which  satisfied  our  uncritical  fathers. 

Most  of  us  are  content  to  take  it  as  gossip  —  an 
unusually  choice  bit,  too,  —  and  to  repeat  it  with 
no  less  relish  on  that  account;  for  whether  it  is 
true  in  the  way  the  sour  historians  demand  or  not, 
we  are  all  very  sure  that  it  is  "  good  enough  to  be 
true."  Indeed,  it  is  too  good  not  to  be  true  and 
for  its  own  sake  deserves  to  be  believed,  —  as  it  has 
been,  and  is,  and  -  is  likely  to  continue  to  be  be- 
lieved, despite  the  canons  of  evidence.  And  after 
all  its  credentials  are  not  so  bad.  Its  one  fault 
under  the  learned  lenses,  is  that  it  has  not  been 
proven  true;  but  quite  as  surely  it  has  never  been 
proven  false.  "  Handed  down  by  tradition  "  may 
not  suit  the  needs  of  the  man  of  tomes  and  vel- 
lums, but  for  us  of  happy  credulity  the  warrant  is 
sound.  And  reflect,  kind  reader,  that  it  is  a  war- 


138  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

rant  quite  as  good  as  the  "  handed  down  in  the 
family,"  which  establishes  the  character  of  the 
grandfather's  clock,  or  the  old  pewter  trencher 
left  you  as  a  great-aunt's  legacy. 

Like  the  clock  and  the  trencher  the  tale  exists. 
It  is  just  as  much  a  part  of  your  family  furnishing, 
just  as  much  an  heirloom  as  are  they;  and  as  with 
them,  its  existence  must  somehow  or  other  be  ac- 
counted for.  What  better  or  likelier  origin  shall 
we  find  than  the  traditional  one? 

There  was  a  time,  ere  the  guile  of  printer's  ink 
had  become  of  common  notoriety,  when  to  have 
"  seen  it  in  print "  was  sufficient  to  establish  any 
story's  reputation.  And  even  yet  we  are  inclined 
to  credit  the  printing,  yellow  and  venerable  with 
age,  which  we  know  to  have  been  implicitly  be- 
lieved in  its  day,  and  to  have  been  written  and 
printed  to  be  believed. 

Perhaps  the  fact  of  the  long  belief  which,  like  a 
right  of  long  possession,  tends  to  establish  a  valid 
title,  may  have  something  to  do  with  our  readier 
credence  of  old  tellings ;  or  it  may  be  that  the  mere 
dread  of  the  shock  that  always  follows  a  discovery 
of  falsity  in  whatever  is  hoary  and  venerable  is 
sufficient  account  for  it ;  but  whatever  the  cause,  we 


THE  WOOING  OF  PRISCILLA  1 39 

have  yet  to  be  thankful  that  the  ancient  sanctity  of 
print  is  not  wholly  departed  from  ancient  printings, 
however  much  in  the  new  order  it  has  fallen  away. 

Perhaps  the  first-printed  narrative  of  the  tradi- 
tionary courtship  is  the  matter-of-fact  paragraph  in 
the  Rev.  Timothy  Alden's  Collection  of  American 
Epitaphs  and  Inscriptions,  which  was  published  dur- 
ing the  years  1812-14.  In  those  days,  on  this  side 
the  Atlantic  at  least,  ornaments  of  style  were  not 
encouraged,  and  romance,  even  though  true,  was 
rather  frowned  upon  than  favored  by  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Puritans.  Accordingly  it  is  but  the 
barest  and  most  prosaic  —  though,  you  may  be 
sure,  explicit  —  statement  of  fact  which  suited  the 
reverend  gentleman's  notion  of  the  needs  and  pro- 
prieties of  the  theme.  But  here  is  his  telling: 

"  It  is  well  known  that  of  the  first  company 
consisting  of  one  hundred  and  one,  about  one-half 
died  in  six  months  after  the  landing  in  consequence 
of  the  hardships  they  were  called  to  encounter. 
Mrs.  Rose  Standish,  consort  of  Captain  Standish, 
departed  this  life  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  January, 
1621.  This  circumstance  is  mentioned  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  following  anecdote,  which  has  been 
carefullv  handed  down  bv  tradition.  In  a  verv 


1 40  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

short  time  after  the  decease  of  Mrs.  Standish  the 
Captain  was  led  to  think  that  if  he  could  obtain 
Miss  Priscilla  Mullins,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  William 
Mullins,  the  break  in  his  family  would  be  happily 
repaired.  He,  therefore,  according  to  the  custom 
of  those  times,  sent  to  ask  Mr.  Mullins'  permission 
to  visit  his  daughter.  John  Alden,  the  messenger, 
went  and  faithfully  communciated  the  wishes  of  the 
Captain. 

"  The  old  gentleman  did  not  object,  as  he  might 
have  done,  on  account  of  the  recency  of  Captain 
Standish's  bereavement.  He  said  it  was  perfectly 
agreeable  to  him,  but  the  young  lady  must  also  be 
consulted.  The  damsel  was  then  called  into  the 
room,  and  John  Alden,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a 
man  of  most  excellent  form,  with  a  fair  and  ruddy 
complexion,  arose,  and,  in  a  very  courteous  and 
prepossessing  manner,  delivered  his  errand.  Miss 
Mullins  listened  with  respectful  attention,  and  at 
last,  after  a  considerable  pause,  fixing  her  eyes 
upon  him,  with  an  open  and  pleasant  countenance, 
said:  'Prithee,  John,  why  do  you  not  speak  for 
yourself? ' 

"  He  blushed  and  bowed,  and  took  his  leave,  but 
with  a  look  which  indicated  more  than  his  diffidence 


THE  WOOING  OF  PRISCILLA  141 

would  permit  him  otherwise  to  express.  However, 
he  soon  renewed  his  visit,  and  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore their  nuptials  were  celebrated  in  ample  form. 
From  them  are  descended  all  of  the  name,  Alden, 
in  the  United  States.  What  report  he  made  to  his 
constituent,  after  the  first  interview,  tradition  does 
not  unfold;  but  it  is  said,  how  true  the  writer 
knows  not,  that  the  Captain  never  forgave  him  to 
the  day  of  his  death." 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  it  was  from  this  version 
that  Longfellow  drew  the  outline  of  the  famous 
idyll  which  has  made  Priscilla's  romance  a  first 
adornment  of  the  epic  history  of  America,  and  Pris- 
cilla  herself  the  best  loved  of  American  heroines. 
With  the  story  of  Captain  John  Smith  and  Poca- 
hontas  (which  the  historians,  I  understand,  now 
bumptiously  command  us  to  disbelieve),  the  story 
of  Captain  Standish's  miscarried  attempt  to  win 
the  maid  of  his  choice  will  always  remain  an  insep- 
arable episode  of  the  early  romance  of  the  land. 

There  is  more  than  one  odd  parallel  between  the 
years  apart.  Each  is  pre-eminently  the  love  story 
of  the  settlement  where  its  occurrence  is  laid,  and 
these  settlements  are  the  two  first  successful  colo- 
nies of  English  people  on  the  American  coast. 
Then,  too,  each  is  distinctively  a  woman's  story  — 


I42  PILGRIM  ALDBN 

a  heroine's  story.  Whatever  credit  there  is,  in 
either  case,  is  the  woman's;  for  it  is  not  easy  to  see 
how  Captain  Smith  or  Captain  Standish,  John 
Alden,  Thomas  Rolfe  or  Powhatan,  emerge  with 
more  than  considerate  respectability  from  their 
respective  affairs.  Priscilla  and  Pocahontas  carry 
all  the  honors. 

"The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,"  while  in- 
evitably the  final  form  which  the  tradition  is  to  as- 
sume, was  not  its  first  appearance  in  literature. 
Longfellow's  poem  was  published  in  1858,  but  as 
early  as  1850  a  version  of  the  old  story  appeared  in 
a  novel  entitled  "A  Peep  at  the  Pilgrims  in  Six- 
teen Hundred  Thirty-Six,"  by  Mrs.  H.  V.  Cheney, 
which  was  published  in  Boston.  In  Mrs.  Cheney's 
novel  the  story  is  introduced  merely  incidentally, 
and  not  at  all  as  a  hinge  to  the  plot. 

It  is  much  garbled,  too,  neither  John  Alden  nor 
Priscilla  being  parties  to  it,  while  Captain  Stand- 
ish is  only  accidentally  the  butt  of  the  tale.  But  it 
is  of  interest  as  a  form  of  the  tradition,  and  not  a 
little  also  for  the  type  of  heroine  which  Mrs.  Cheney 
conceives  necessary  to  the  theme  —  a  heroine 
whose  lack  of  maidenly  modesty  and  unquestion- 
able tendency  toward  slang  arc  all  at  variance  with 
our  orthodox  picture  of  a  Puritan  Priscilla.  It 


THE  WOOING  OF  PRISC1LLA  143 

is  in  a  letter  given  as  written  by  Peregrine  White, 
whom  the  author  paints  almost  pertinaciously  vi- 
vacious, that  the  incident  is  narrated: 

"  Did  Miriam  tell  you  —  though  it  is  not  likely 
she  did  —  that  Mr.  Calvert  left  Plymouth  soon 
after  you  went  away,  and  everybody  says  because 
she  would  not  marry  him  and  go  to  Virginia.  Well, 
as  his  vessel  was  not  quite  ready  to  sail,  he  went 
to  pass  a  week  or  two  with  Captain  Standish,  who 
it  seems  took  a  great  liking  to  him.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  while  he  was  there  the  captain  saw  by 
chance  a  comely  young  damsel,  and  thinking,  as 
well  he  might,  that  it  was  not  good  for  a  man  to 
be  alone-,  he  resolved  in  his  mind  the  means  of 
taking  her  unto  himself  for  wife.  But  as  it  is  long 
since  his  courting  days,  I  suppose  the  good  man 
felt  a  little  awkward  at  the  business,  being  more 
accustomed  to  slashing  up  Indians  than  making 
fine  speeches,  such  as  win  pretty  women;  and  so  in 
imitation  of  ancient  Isaac  he  resolved  to  send  for- 
ward a  herald  to  speak  the  word  for  him. 

"  I  have  ever  since  thought  he  would  have  done 
well  if  he  had  chosen  me,  who  would,  doubtless, 
have  proven  a  trusty  agent,  but  instead  thereof  he 
selected  Calvert,  who  was  at  his  house,  and  well 
able  to  argue  fluently  on  any  side  of  the  question, 


i44  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

right  or  wrong.  So  he  repaired  to  the  damsel, 
full  armed  with  instructions;  but,  alas!  who  can 
foresee  the  caprices  of  love?  When  he  had  fin- 
ished pleading  the  captain's  cause,  the  maiden 
turned  her  bewitching  eyes  upon  him,  and  said  with 
sweet  simplicity: 

'  Prithee,  why  do  you  not  speak  for  yourself? ' 

'  Would  you,'  answered  Calvert,  '  prefer  me,  an 
unknown  stranger,  to  the  brave  captain  whose 
name  is  renowned  all  over  the  world  for  his  deeds  of 
courage? ' 

'  Ten  to  one,'  replied  the  damsel,  with  a  smile  and 
a  blush. 

"  Now  the  rest  of  their  conference  is  unknown, 
and  this  has  leaked  out  unawares,  but  it  was  doubt- 
less settled  to  the  satisfaction  of  both,  for  Calvert 
returned  to  Captain  Standish  to  confess  the  strange 
result  of  the  business,  and  arrange  his  affairs;  and 
it  is  whispered  that  your  valiant  kinsman  flew  into 
a  most  violent  passion,  and  that  very  night  turned 
him  out  of  doors.  I  will  not  vouch  for  the  truth  of 
all  this,  being  very  cautious  about  spreading  re- 
ports. —  but  be  that  as  it  may,  before  noon  on  the 
following  day,  Mr.  Calvert  put  his  bride  and  other 
cpmmodities  on  board  the  vessel,  and  sailed  from 
Plymouth,  probably  forever." 


THE  WOOING  OF  PRISCILLA  145 

If  Mrs.  Cheney's  narrative  is  the  first,  it  is  yet 
not  the  last  novelist's  attempt  to  deal  with  the 
story.  In  Jane  G.  Austin's  artful  little  novel, 
"  Standish  of  Standish,"  the  tale  appears  once 
again,  and  in  rather  a  more  vital  connection  to  its 
setting.  The  version  in  "  Standish  of  Standish  " 
is  a  palpably  labored  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
authoress  to  save  the  good  captain,  who  is  the 
hero  of  her  novel,  from  what  is  at  best  a  mirth- 
provoking  situation.  And  in  order  to  do  this  she 
mangles  it  with  a  hand  so  insensitive  to  the  quali- 
ties that  go  to  make  up  a  good  story  that  it  is 
hard  to  forgive  the  maladroitness,  even  for  the  sake 
of  anotherwise  charming  tale. 

It  is  to  be  doubted,  too,  if  in  treating  him  thus 
the  authoress  is  not  doing  an  unkindness  to  the 
brave  captain;  for  it  is  difficult  to  credit  him  with 
a  lack  of  the  good  graces  of  humor  or  a  hardness  of 
heart  so  great  that  he  would  not  willingly  play 
the  sorrier  part  for  the  sake  of  the  tale  and  its 
perpetuity.  And,  indeed,  history  (not  of  the  sour 
sort),  seems  to  record  a  certain  jolly  acquiescence 
on  his  part  to  the  featherings  of  fate,  for  not  only 
was  he  a  life-long  friend  and  neighbor  of  Master 
Alden  and  his  household,  but,  as  if  to  set  fitting 
seal  and  climax  to  the  romance  of  the  courtship, 


146  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

he  sanctioned  his  son's  union  with  Priscilla's  daugh- 
ter,—  a  final  touch  which  no  wonder-tale  could 
have  bettered. 

But  in  Mrs.  Austin's  novel  the  captain  is  made 
a  victim  of  neighborly  gossip,  of  woman's  wile  and 
of  a  soldierly  sense  of  honor.  Desire  Minter  is  at 
the  bottom  of  the  affair  and  the  scapegoat  for  all 
blame  and  blunder.  She  it  is,  who,  desirous  of. 
wedding  the  newly-widowed  Captain  Standish,  and 
madly  jealous  of  Priscilla  whom  she  deems  an 
aspirant,  not  unfavored,  in  the  same  direction, 
spreads  abroad  the  report  that  the  two  are  be- 
trothed or  like  to  be. 

The  impression  arising  from  this  report,  inter- 
preted by  the  Colony  as  an  expectation  on  Pris- 
cilla's part,  is  supplemented  by  a  promise  given  by 
the  captain  to  Mr.  Mullins  on  his  death-bed  that 
he  would  keep  ward  over  his  family  —  a  promise 
which  is  construed  by  Governor  Bradford  as  a 
pledge  of  marriage,  so  understood  by  both  Pris- 
cilla and  her  father.  Thus  brought  home  to  the 
Captain,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  soldierly  honor  to 
fulfill  the  pledge,  even  though  he  himself  had  been 
under  no  such  impression,  and  had  no  desire  to  wed 
Priscilla. 

So   he   delegates   John    Alden  —  who   is   repre- 


THE  WOOING  OF  PRISCILLA  147 

sented  with  only  a  modicum  of  brains  to  savor  a 
plenum  of  muscle,  but  with  a  dog-like  faithfulness 
of  heart  —  to  inform  the  maiden  that  he  is  gra- 
ciously willing  to  stand  by  the  bargain  into  which 
he  finds  himself  inadvertently  drawn,  —  a  proposal 
which  she,  all  unsuspicious,  not  unnaturally  re- 
sents. 

But  the  true  humor  of  the  situation  (for  the 
reader,  that  is;  since  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
authoress  woefully  wants  this  saving  salt)  appears 
in  the  introduction  of  Priscilla's  oft-quoted  phrase. 
John  Alden  is  represented  as  a  long-suffering,  oft- 
suing  and  oft-spurned  wooer  of  the  maid  whom  he 
eventually  wins  by  \the  brute  force  of  pertinacity. 
In  his  poor  blundering  way  he  has  made  it  as 
clear  as  may  be  to  Priscilla  herself  and  to  the  sym- 
pathetic onlookers  (Captain  Standish  being  the  one 
obtuse  member  of  the  Colony)  what  is  the  desire 
of  his  heart.  And  in  the  climactic  scene  he  is 
goaded  by  the  maid's  taunts  to  the  ninth  declara- 
tion of  his  love.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  this  declara- 
tion, just  as  he  is  desperately  averring  that  he 
loves  her  "  as  blind  men  love  sight,  and  dying  men 
water,"  —  speaking  for  himself  if  ever  man  so 
spoke,  and  consciencelessly  flinging  his  mission  to 
the  winds,  —  that  Priscilla  cuts  him  short  with: 


148  PILGRIM  ALDBN 

"  Then  why  don't  you  speak  for  yourself,  John?  " 
Could  anything  be  more  mercilessly  malapropos? 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  "  Standish  of  Standish  " 
luckily  fails  in  its  thankless  endeavor  to  spoil  a 
good  story,  and  because  the  failure  is  so  thor- 
ough-going and  sincere  we  may  forgive  the  author- 
ess her  attempt  and  preserve  her  volume  for  its 
better  qualities.  One  need  only  compare  this  tale 
with  the  earlier  "  Peep  "  of  Mrs.  Cheney's  to  per- 
ceive what  these  qualities  are,  and  to  thank  the 
pains  which  has  given  us  a  chatty  acquaintance- 
ship with  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  more  of  a  human 
hold  on  them  than  the  historians  would  allow. 

A  better  interpretation  (and  this  can  truly  be 
called  an  interpretation,  and  not  a  version)  is  Har- 
riet Prescott  Spofford's  "  Priscilla  "  in  the  "  Three 
Heroines  of  New  England  Romance,"  published 
only  a  half  dozen  years  ago.  Mrs.  Spofford  takes 
Priscilla  and  John  Alden  as  sensitive,  high-spirited, 
and  delicately  minded,  yet  serious  and  ardent  lov- 
ers, just  as  Longfellow  portrays  them;  and  upon 
the  incidents  and  scenes  which  made  their  story 
theirs  before  it  became  ours,  she  touches  with  the 
gentle  hand  and  quick  sympathy  of  one  who  feels 
and  understands  all  that  must  have  happened.  It 
is  for  Priscilla's  sake  that  her  sketch  is  written,  and 


THE  WOOING  OF  PRISCILLA  149 

if  you  wish  to  know  Priscilla  more  intimately  than 
even  Longfellow's  poem  portrays  her,  if  you  wish 
to  know  Priscilla  as  a  woman,  and  as  a  woman 
sees  her,  you  cannot  do  better  than  to  know  her 
through  Mrs.  Spofford's  sketch.  It  is  not  a  story 
of  incidents  that  she  gives  us,  but  the  fine-spun 
web  of  a  love's  psychology;  and  here  it  cannot  in 
any  way  be  recast.  It  must  be  sought  out  for  its 
own  sake,  between  the  covers  of  its  native  book. 
But  the  story  that  is  to  stand  and  the  version  of 
it  that  is  always  to  remain  the  orthodox  version  is 
the  poet's.  And  if  John  Alden  was  in  reality  not  at 
all  the  scholar  whom  Longfellow  describes,  and  if 
Captain  Standish  may  have  been  of  a  less  epic 
prowess  and  Priscilla  possibly  of  a  more  Gallic  tem- 
perament, still  the  soul  of  the  story  is  none  the 
less  truly  incarnate  in  the  poem  and  the  portraits 
themselves  are  truest  in  being  true  to  that  soul. 
For  us  Captain  Standish  will  ever  remain  the 
"  rough  old  soldier,  grown  grim  and  gray  in  the 
harness,"  while  John  Alden  will  always  appear 
the  white-faced  lover,  torn  between  the  conflicting 
demands  of  leal  friendship  and  his  heart's  need, 
who,  bearing  the  gift  of  dewy  Mayflowers,  bursts 
with  trembling  eloquence  upon  the  frighted  Pris- 
cilla. And  she  —  can  Priscilla  herself  ever  be  any- 


1 5o  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

thing  other  than  the  "  loveliest  maiden  of  Ply- 
mouth," in  whose  garb,  redolent  of  romance,  the 
maids  of  today  best  love  to  masquerade,  whose 
form  and  feature  it  is  so  often  the  delight  of  our 
artists  to  portray? 
"Seated  beside  her  wheel,  and  the  carded  wool 

like  a  snow-drift 
Piled   at   her  knee,   her   white   hand   feeding  the 

ravenous  spindle, 
While  with  her  foot  on  the  treadle  she  guided  the 

wheel  in  its  motion." 


CHAPTER     X. 


PILGRIM    HOUSEHOLD. 

T  is  probable  that  John  and  Priscilla 
were  married  late  in  1621  or  early  the 
following  year.  Their  first  child  may 
have  been  born  in  1622,  which  is  the 
date  Ebenezer  Alden  in  his  "  Memorial 
of  the  Descendants  of  the  Hon.  John 
Alden  "  sets  for  the  birth  of  Captain 
John  Alden,  later  of  Boston,  —  but  it 
is  more  probable  that  1624  was  the 
year  which  saw  the  first  addition  to  the  newly  es- 
tablished household,  for  it  was  in  this  year  that 
Elizabeth  Alden,  afterward  Paybodie,  gladdened 
the  eyes  of  her  young  parents.  Between  that  date 
and  the  allotment  of  cattle  in  1627,  when  we 
know  that  there  were  four  members  of  the 
Alden  family,  John,  the  eldest  son,  was  born. 
These  two  and  Joseph,  the  second  son,  born  in 
1627,  were  doubtless  all  born  in  Plymouth,  under 
the  shadow  of  old  Fort  Hill,  but  the  remaining 
children  must  have  been  natives  of  Duxbury. 

We  know  from  Governor  Bradford's  entry  of 
1651  that  at  that  time  John  and  Priscilla  were  the 
parents  of  eleven  children,  but  the  names  of  certain 


i5 2  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

of  these  children  are  largely  a  matter  of  conjecture. 
The  attestation  of  settlement  of  John  Alden's  es- 
tate, signed  by  his  heirs,  (quoted  on  page  100)  is 
the  most  complete  list  which  we  possess,  but  even 
here  there  are  no  more  than  ten  names  and  several 
of  these  are  signatures  of  the  sons-in-law  and  pos- 
sibly in  one  case  of  a  daughter-in-law  of  the  Pil- 
grim. 

Mrs.  Charles  L.  Alden,  in  her  Alden  Genealogy, 
has  presented  a  list  of  the  children  of  John  and 
Priscilla,  together  with  the  dates  of  their  births, 
and  while  her  work  may  be  modified  by  future  dis- 
coveries, it  is  undoubtedly  in  the  main  correct.  She 
gives  the  names  and  dates  as  follows: 

Elizabeth,  born  1623-4. 

John,  born  1626. 

Joseph,  born  1627. 

Sarah,  born  1629. 

Jonathan,  born  1632-3. 

Ruth,  born  1634-5. 

Rebecca,  born  about  1637. 

Priscilla. 

Zachariah,  born  perhaps  about  1641. 

Mary,  born  perhaps  about  1643. 

David,  born  1646. 

The  names  in  this  list  that  are  represented  in  the 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  153 

certificate  of  settlement  are:  Elizabeth,  by  her  hus- 
band, William  Paybody;  Mary,  by  her  husband, 
Thomas  Delano;  Sarah  and  Ruth,  who  were  both 
dead  in  1688,  are  represented  by  their  husbands' 
signatures;  Priscilla,  presumably  an  unmarried 
daughter,  but  concerning  her  nothing  is  known 
beyond  this  signature;  Rebecca  was  probably  dead 
at  this  time,  and  without  children,  for  which  reason 
she  is  unrepresented.  Of  the  sons,  John,  Joseph 
and  David  sign  for  themselves;  Jonathan,  of 
course,  is  named  in  the  certification;  and  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  the  signature  of  Mary  Alden  is  as  the 
wife  of  Zachariah,  who  was  probably  absent,  or 
possibly  dead,  at  the  time. 

This  list  in  every  way  satisfies  Governor  Brad- 
ford's entry  and  appears  to  be  an  altogether  prob- 
able restoration  of  the  familv,  although  there  is 
necessarily  some  doubt  in  connection  with  the 
names  of  Zachariah,  Rebecca  and  Priscilla.  It  is 
not  absolutely  sure  that  the  Mary  who  signed  the 
attestation  of  settlement  was  the  wife  of  Zachariah. 
nor  is  it  impossible  that  the  Priscilla  whose  name 
appears  there  was  not  the  Pilgrim's  wife,  as  Eben- 
ezer  Alden  not  unnaturally  supposed.  Neverthe- 
less the  reasons  given  by  the  author  of  the  Alden 


154  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Genealogy  for  her  interpretation  are  sufficiently 
convincing. 

It  is  known  that  Mary,  the  daughter  of  John  and 
Priscilla,  was  married  to  Thomas  Delano,  who 
signs  in  her  right.  Her  name  at  that  time  must 
have  been  Mary  Delano,  and  the  "  Mary  Alden  " 
whose  name  appears  could  not,  therefore,  have 
been  she,  but  was  most  likely,  as  Mrs.  Alden  sur- 
mises, the  wife  of  another  son  —  the  Zachariah  of 
whom  some  trace  exists.  As  for  Priscilla  —  it  is 
almost  certain  that  Priscilla.  the  mother,  died  be- 
fore this  time.  At  all  events,  there  has  been  dis- 
covered no  later  mention  of  her. 

Concerning  the  eight  other  children  there  is,  of 
course,  no  doubt,  and  it  is  through  them  that  all 
descent  from  the  Pilgrim  John  is  traced. 

Elizabeth  was  the  eldest  of  these.  She  was  born 
in  Plymouth  in  1623  or  '24, —  the  first  white  wo- 
man native  to  New  England  soil.  On  December 
twenty-six,  1644,  she  was  married  to  William  Pa- 
bodie.  This  wedding  took  place  in  Duxbury,  where 
she  then  lived,  and  was  doubtless  performed  by 
her  father,  already  long  a  magistrate.  It  was  not 
until  forty  years  later,  in  1684,  that  the  Pabodies 
removed  to  Little  Compton,  R.  I.,  where  their  final 
home  was  made.  Their  residence  while  in  Dux- 


THE  ATTIC  CHIMNEY 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  155 

bury  was  "  east  of  Eagle  Nest  Creek,  and  near 
Brewster  and  Standish." 

Here  were  born  their  thirteen  children, —  John, 
Elizabeth,  Mary,  Mercy.  Martha,  Priscilla  (dying 
in  early  infancy),  Priscilla,  Sarah,  Ruth,  Rebecca, 
Hannah,  William  and  Lydia, —  and  here  ten  of 
them  were  married.  It  was  here,  too,  in  1669,  that 
John,  the  eldest  son,  was  killed  by  a  blow  from  the 
bough  of  a  tree,  sustained  while  riding  beneath  it. 

William  Pabodie,  the  husband,  was  a  man  of 
some  moment  'both  in  Duxbury  and  Little  Comp- 
ton.  He  was  possessed  of  considerable  property, 
and  for  many  years  held  public  office.  He  lived  to 
the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-seven,  having  been  born 
in  1620  and  dying  in  1707. 

But  in  years  the  husband  did  not  equal  the  wife. 
Mrs.  Pabodie  lived  until  1717  and  it  was  in  the 
"  Boston  News  Letter  "  of  the  seventeenth  of  June 
in  that  year  that  the  following  notice  appeared : 

"Little  Compton.  May  thirty-one,  1717.  This 
morning  died  here  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Paybody,  in  the 
ninety-third  year  of  her  age.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  John  Alden,  Esquire,  and  Priscilla,  his  wife, 
daughter  of  Mr.  William  Mullens.  This  John  Alden 
and  Priscilla  Mullens  were  married  at  Plymouth, 
where  their  daughter  Elizabeth  was  born.  She  was 


156  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

exemplary,  virtuous  and  pious,  and  her  memory  is 
blessed.  She  left  a  numerous  posterity.  Her  grand- 
daughter Bradford  is  a  grandmother." 

It  is  in  connection  with  the  last  sentence  of  this 
brief  biography  that  an  ancient  couplet  is  handed 
down  as  referring  to  Elizabeth  Pabodie,  who,  in 
her  great-great-grandmother's    capacity,  loquitur: 
"  Rise,  daughter,  to  thy  daughter  run ! 
Thy  daughter's  daughter  hath  a  son !" 

The  Aldens  as  a  family  have  ever  been  long-lived 
and  fruitful  of  posterity,  and  in  more  than  one 
modern  instance  four  generations  are  co-existent, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  there  has  ever  been  another 
case  where  members  of  five  generations  were  living 
at  the  one  time. 

Elizabeth  Pabodie  was  buried  in  Little  Compton 
and  there  may  still  be  seen  a  granite  shaft  in  the 
old  burying-ground  bearing  the  inscription :  "  Here 
lyeth  the  body  of  Elizabeth  Pabodie,  who  dyed  May 
ye  thirty-first,  1717,  and  in  the  ninety-fourth  year 
of  her  age." 

The  Pabodie  house,  built  in  1680,  is  still  well 
preserved,  and  is  now  inhabited  by  Mr.  George 
Gray  and  his  family.  Mrs.  Gray  is  descended  from 
Innocent  Rowland,  known  to  tradition  as  "the 
beautiful  Quakeress."  During  repairs,  some  years 


ere  lye 


L/r/.- 
•yea 


Elizabeth  Pabodie  Monument,  Little  Compton. 
Original  Gravestone  and   Inscription. 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  157 

since,  curious  relics  were  discovered  in  ancient 
ashes  under  the  hearth,  among  them  a  bronze 
spoon  of  a  fashion  used  in  Holland  at  the  time  of 
the  Pilgrimage.  This  spoon  has  passed  into  the 
possession  of  a  descendant  of  Elizabeth  Pabodie. 

The  most  picturesque  career  of  any  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Pilgrim  was  that  of  Captain  John  Alden 
of  Boston.  Born  in  Plymouth  about  1626,  he 
passed  his  earlier  years  in  Duxbury  where  the  rec- 
ords show  that  he  was  admitted  freeman  in  1646. 
Three  years  later  he  removed  to  Boston,  which 
was  thenceforth  to  be  his  home,  his  dwelling  being 
situated  on  a  passage  leading  from  Cambridge 
Street  to  Sudbury  Street,  and  called  after  him 
"  Alden's  Lane," —  today  known  as  Alden  Street. 

In  his  youth  he  became  a  mariner  and  in  later 
years  rose  to  eminence  in  his  profession  and  ac- 
quired by  means  of  it  what  was  in  his  day  some- 
thing of  a  fortune.  He  was  for  some  years  master 
of  a  merchantman  owned  by  John  Hull,  and  later 
for  many  years  commander  of  the  armed  vessel 
belonging  to  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
which  supplied  the  Maine  posts  with  provisions 
and  stores.  He  also  saw  service  in  the  French  and 
Indian  wars,  and  in  1691  a  vessel  in  his  charge  was 
taken  by  a  French  frigate,  and  he  and  his  son  were 


:58  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

made  prisoners, —  not,  however,  for  a  long  captiv- 
ity. But  by  far  the  most  interesting  episode  in 
Captain  Alden's  career  was  his  arrest  and  trial  as 
a  witch,  and  as  of  all  those  so  accused  he  is  the 
only  one  who  has  left  us  a  written  account  of  his 
experiences,  his  case  is  of  exceptional  interest. 
The  narrative  is  given  in  Upham's  "  History  of 
Witchcraft,"  as  follows: 

"John  Alden,  Sr.,  of  Boston,  in  the  county  of 
Suffolk,  mariner,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  May, 
1692,  was  sent  for  by  the  magistrates  of  Salem,  in 
the  county  of  Essex,  upon  the  accusation  of  a  com- 
pany of  poor  distracted  or  possessed  creatures  or 
witches;  and  being  sent  by  Mr.  Stoughton,  arrived 
there  on  the  thirty-first  of  May,  and  appeared  at 
Salem  Village,  before  Mr.  Gedney,  Mr.  Hawthorne 
and  Mr.  Corwin. 

"  Those  wenches  being  present  who  played  their 
juggling  tricks,  falling  down,  crying  out,  and  star- 
ing in  people's  faces,  the  magistrates  demanded  of 
them  several  times  who  it  was  of  all  the  people  in 
the  room  that  hurt  them.  One  of  these  accusers 
pointed  several  times  at  one  Captain  Hill,  there 
present,  but  spake  nothing.  The  same  accuser  had 
a  man  standing  at  her  back  to  hold  her  up.  He 
stooped  down  to  her  ear;  then  she  cried  out,  '  Al- 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  159 

den,  Alden  afflicted  her.'  One  of  the  magistrates 
asked  her  if  she  had  ever  seen  Alden.  She  answered 
'  No.'  He  asked  her  how  she  knew  it  was  Alden. 
She  said  the  man  told  her  so. 

"  Then  all  were  ordered  to  go  down  in  the  street, 
where  a  ring  was  made ;  and  the  same  accuser  cried 
out,  'There  stands  Alden,  a  bold  fellow,  with  his 
hat  on  before  the  judges;  he  sells  powder  and  shot 
to  the  Indians  and  French.  .  .  .  '  Then  was 
Alden  committed  to  the  marshal's  custody,  and 
his  sword  taken  from  him;  for  they  said  he  afflicted 
tfiem  with  his  sword.  After  some  hours  Alden  was 
sent  for  to  the  meeting-house  in  the  village,  before 
the  magistrates,  who  required  Alden  to  stand  upon 
a  chair,  to  the  open  view  of  all  the  people. 

"  The  accusers  cried  out  that  Alden  pinched 
them  then,  when  he  stood  upon  the  chair,  in  the 
sight  of  all  the  people,  a  good  way  distant  from 
them.  One  of  the  magistrates  bid  the  marshal  to 
hold  open  Alden's  hands,  that  he  might  not  pinch 
those  creatures.  ,  Alden  asked  them  why  they 
should  think  that  he  should  come  to  that  village  to 
afflict  those  persons  that  he  never  knew  or  saw  be- 
fore. Mr.  Gedney  bid  Alden  confess  and  give 
glory  to  God. 

"  Alden  said  he  hoped  he  should  give  glory  to 


160  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

God  and  hoped  he  should  never  gratify  the  devil: 
rbut  appealed  to  all  that  ever  knew  him,  if  they  ever 
suspected  him  to  be  such  a  person ;  and  challenged 
any  one  that  could  bring  in  anything  on  their  own 
knowledge,  that  might  give  suspicion  of  his  being 
such  an  one.  Mr.  Gedney  said  he  had  known 
Alden  many  years,  and  had  been  at  sea  with  him, 
and  always  looked  upon  him  to  be  an  honest  man ; 
but  now  he  saw  cause  to  alter  his  judgment.  Alden 
answered,  he  was  sorry  for  that,  but  he  hoped  God 
would  clear  up  his  innocency,  that  he  would  recall 
that  judgment  again;  and  added  that  he  hoped  that 
he  should,  with  Job,  maintain  his  integrity  till  he 
died. 

"  They  bid  Alden  look  upon  his  accusers,  which 
he  did,  and  then  they  fell  down.  Alden  asked  Mr. 
Gedney  what  reason  there  could  be  given  why  Al- 
den's  looking  upon  him  did  not  strike  him  down  as 
well,  but  no  reason  was  given  that  I  heard.  But 
the  accusers  were  brought  to  Alden  to  touch  them ; 
and  this  touch,  they  said,  made  them  well.  Alden 
began  to  speak  of  the  Providence  of  God  in  suffer- 
ing these  creatures  to  accuse  innocent  persons. 

"  Mr.  Noyes  asked  Alden  why  he  should  offer  to 
speak  of  the  Providence  of  God:  God,  by  his  Provi- 
dence (said  Mr.  Noyes),  governs  the  world,  and 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  161 

keeps  it  in  peace;  and  so  went  on  with  discourse, 
and  stopped  Alden's  mouth  as  to  that.  Alden  told 
Gedney  that  he  could  assure  him  that  there  was  a 
lying  spirit  in  them;  for  I  can  assure  you  that  there 
is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  all  these  say  of  me.  But 

». 

Alden  was  again  committed  to  the  marshal,  and  his 
mittimus  written. 

"  To  Boston  Alden  was  carried  by  a  constable : 
no  bail  would  be  taken  for  him,  but  was  delivered 
to  the  prison-keeper,  where  he  remained  fifteen 
weeks;  and  then,  observing  the  manner  of  trials, 
and  evidence  then  taken,  was  at  length  prevailed 
with  to  make  his  escape." 

From  the  prison  Captain  Alden  made  his  way 
to  Duxbury,  where  he  aroused  his  relatives  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  with  the  information  that  "  he 
was  flying  from  the  devil  and  the  devil  was  after 
him."  He  remained  there  for  several  months,  until 
the  witchery  scare  had  subsided,  when  he  gave 
himself  up  to  the  authorities  at  Boston  and  no  one 
appearing  against  him,  he  was  discharged, —  but 
with  a  temper  forever  after  soured  against  any 
mention  of  witchcraft. 

Captain  Alden  was  married  twice,  each  time  to 
an  Elizabeth.  The  first  wife  died  before  1660,  for 
this  was  the  year  in  which  he  married  Elizabeth 


1 62  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Everill,  widow,  who  remained  to  share  his  home 
until  1695  or  '96.  He  himself  lived  until  1702, 
when  he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-five.  According 
to  Ebenezer  Alden's  Memorial  he  was  the  father 
of  fourteen  children,  at  least  four  of  whom  died  in 
early  infancy.  At  the  present  day  there  are  no  de 
scendants  of  Captain  Alden  bearing  the  name. 

When  he  first  came  to  Boston  Captain  Alden 
united  by  letter  with  the  "  First  Church  "  of  that 
city,  but  later  joined  the  secession  from  that  church 
which  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  "  Third 
Church/'  afterward  the  Old  South  Church,  of 
which  he  was  thus  a  charter  member.  Today  his 
gravestone  is  one  of  three  preserved  under  the 
portico  of  the  New  Old  South  Church  building  at 
the  corner  of  Copley  Square  in  that  city.  The  story 
of  its  recovery  is  given  in  the  Boston  Transcript 
for  April  thirty,  1870,  as  follows: 

"  Mr.  Samuel  Jennison,  the  owner  of  property 
on  and  about  Carlton  Place,  has  recently,  on  ac- 
count of  the  widening  ot  Eliot  Street,  begun  oper- 
ations for  the  purpose  of  building  there  a  new 
block.  As  the  excavations  have  been  going  on 
some  relics  of  the  past  have  been  dug  up,  including 
a  lot  of  bones  and  quite  a  number  of  gravestones, 
some  of  them  nearly  whole.  These  are  small  slate 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  163 

stone  tablets,  such  as  may  be  seen  in  the  King's 
Chapel,  Granary,  and  other  ancient  burying- 
grounds  in  the  vicinity,  and  most  of  them  have  the 
old-fashioned  death's  head  cut  over  their  inscrip- 
tions." 

The  inscription  upon  Captain  Alden's  stone 
reads,  "  Here  lyeth  the  body  of  John  Alden,  Senior, 
aged  seventy-five  years.  Deceased  March  fourteen, 
1702."  The  stone  was  consecrated,  in  its  present 
position,  in  1884,  Hamilton  A.  Hill  delivering  upon 
that  occasion  a  memorial  address. 

Concerning  the  second  son,  Joseph,  we  know 
nothing  beyond  the  bare  skeleton  of  dates  which  is 
too  often  the  sum  of  the  life  notes  which  the  fore- 
fathers have  left  to  us.  Joseph  Alden  was  a  farmer 
in  Bridgewater,  where  he  held  lands  deeded  to  him 
by  his  father;  and  doubtless  he  fulfilled  well  the 
duties  of  his  station  and  lived  well  the  traditions  of 
his  parentage  —  a  son  worthy  the  parents.  Cer- 
tainly his  neighbors  thought  well  of  him,  for  he 
held  local  offices  in  his  town  and  served  the  Colony 
on  the  "  Grand  Inquest." 

And  if  a  man's  posterity  may  speak  for  the  man, 
as  surely  it  ought,  Joseph  Alden  was  not  one  who 
neglected  the  religious  duties  and  privileges  of  the 
Pilgrim  Church;  at  all  events  we  find  among  his 


164  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

descendants  an  unusually  long  and  persistent  suc- 
cession of  ministers  of  the  Gospel. 

He  was  named  "  Joseph "  after  Priscilla's 
younger  brother,  who  was  among  the  victims  of 
that  fatal  first  winter  of  1620-21,  and  there  is  a  tra- 
dition in  certain  branches  of  the  family  that  he  was 
Priscilla's  favorite  among  all  her  children. 

Joseph  Alden  was  born,  in  Plymouth,  about  the 
year  1627,  and  certainly  after  the  cattle  division 
of  that  year,  since  in  the  record  of  the  division  John 
Alden's  family  comprises  only  the  two  older  chil- 
dren. But  as  this  was  in  May,  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  Joseph  was  born  later  in  the  same  year.  The 
date  given  by  Ebenezer  Alden,  1624,  is  certainly  in- 
correct. 

Joseph  Alden  was  married  in  1659,  presumably 
in  Duxbury,  where  he  may  have  resided  some 
years,  since  he  did  not  receive  the  Bridgewater 
lands  until  1679,  although  to  be  sure  this  was  not 
the  date  of  his  removal  thither.  His  wife  was 
Mary,  daughter  of  Moses  Simmons.  To  them  were 
born  five,  or  possibly  seven,  children.  Ebenezer 
Alden  gives:  Isaac,  Joseph,  John,  Elizabeth,  and 
Mary;  and  to  this  list  Mrs.  Chas.  Alden  adds  a 
probable  Mercy  and  Elizabeth.  Joseph  Alden  died 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  165 

February  eighth,   1697,  leaving  an  estate  valued 
at  seventy-six  pounds. 

Sarah,  the  second  daughter  of  John  and  Priscilla, 
was  born,  according  to  Mrs.  Alden,  about  the  time 
of  the  removal  to  Duxbury.  She  it  was  who,  by 
her  marriage  with  Alexander  Standish,  son  of  the 
captain,  played  the  graceful  last  scene  in  the  com- 
edy of  the  courtship;  and  if  there  ever  was  more 
than  the  good-humored  banter  of  neighbors  in  the 
old  story  of  the  stout  captain's  long-nursed  wrath 
—  a  story  hard  to  credit, —  we  cannot  doubt  that 
to  Sarah,  his  rival's  daughter  'but  his  heir's  bride, 
must  belong  the  honor  of  having  at  length  con- 
quered the  sad  distemper;  and  no  doubt,  too,  she 
delivered  the  coup  de  grace  with  a  smack  of  her 
rosy  lips,  nor  can  we  believe  that  the  captain's  ani- 
mosity fell  an  unwilling  victim. 

The  fruit  of  this  match  was  a  family  of  seven  — 
Lorah,  Lydia,  Mercy,  Elizabeth,  Sarah,  Miles  and 
Ebenezer.  They  dwelt  in  a  house  still  standing, 
built  by  Alexander  Standish,  not  far  from  the  Alden 
estate.  Sarah,  the  wife,  died  in  her  early  maturity, 
and  her  husband  married  again,  but  no  children 
were  born  of  the  second  marriage.  Alexander 
Standish  participated  in  the  public  life  of  the  com- 
munity, serving  as  deputy  from  Duxbury,  and  for 


1 66  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

a  number  of  years  as  town  clerk.    He  died  in  1702. 

Captain  Jonathan  Alden  of  Duxbury  was  the 
Pilgrim's  third  son.  He  was  born  about  1632  and 
may  have  been  the  first  of  the  children  born  in  Dux- 
bury.  As  he  grew  up  he  showed  that  inclination 
for  military  affairs  which  has  always  been  charac- 
teristic of  the  family.  He  was  successively  an  en- 
sign, lieutenant  and  captain  in  the  Duxbury  con- 
tingent of  the  Colony's  force,  and  his  military  ser- 
vice was  of  many  years  duration.  When  he  died, 
in  1697,  he  was  buried  under  arms,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Wiswall  at  the  time  delivering  an  address  at  his 
grave,  portions  of  which  are  still  handed  down  to 
us,  being  preserved  in  Timothy  Alden's  collection 
of  epitaphs  and  inscriptions. 

Captain  Jonathan  inherited  the  paternal  home- 
stead in  Duxbury  and  it  was  probably  with  him 
that  the  Pilgrim  parents  spent  their  last  days.  He 
was  administrator  of  his  father's  estate,  as  we  have 
seen.  He  did  not  marry  until  late  in  life,  unless 
there  was  an  earlier  marriage  than  the  one  re- 
corded with  Abigail  Hallett  in  1672.  He  was  the 
father  of  five  or  six  children,  presumably  all  by  this 
wife.  Of  his  burial  place  Mrs.  Chas.  Alden  writes: 
"  He  and  his  wife  are  buried  in  the  cemetery  in 
South  Duxbury,  half  a  mile  from  the  railroad  sta- 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  167 

tion.  His  stone  was  broken  away  from  its  place, 
and  Miss  Lucia  Alclen  Bradford — a  descendant  — 
took  it  to  her  home  and  kept  it  framed  in  her  par- 
lor. Before  her  death,  a  few  years  since,  she  sent 
me  a  copy  of  the  stone.  It  has  since  been  reset 
near  the  grave  of  his  wife.  It  reads:  '  Here  lyes  ye 
body  of  Jonathan  Alden.  Died  February  ye  four- 
teen, 1697,  in  ye  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age.'  " 

In  regard  to  the  Zachariah,  which  the  author  of 
the  Alden  Genealogy  includes  in  the  family,  we  may 
best  quote  her  own  words : 

"  We  have  less  knowledge  of  Zachariah  than  of 
any  of  the  sons.  He  undoubtedly  married  a  wife 
Mary,  who,  in  the  settlement  of  John  Alden's  es- 
tate, signed  with  the  rest  of  the  heirs  for  her  hus- 
band —  he  being  absent  or  dead.  I  think  he  was 
absent,  for  the  marriage  notice  of  their  daughter 
Anna  to  Josiah  Snell  reads:  'Josiah  Snell  of 
Bridgewater  to  Anna  Alden,  daughter  of  Zachariah 
Alden  of  Duxbury.'  Josiah  and  Anna  (Alden)  Snell 
were  ancestors  of  the  poet  Bryant.  Among  their 
descendants  I  find  two  traditions:  one  that  Zacha- 
riah was  a  minister  or  teacher;  the  other  that  he 
was  a  mariner.  I  think  the  latter  is  more  prob- 
able, for  I  do  not  find  him  on  the  Duxbury  lists. 
The  name  Zachariah  appears  in  his  brother  John's 


1 68  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

family.  We  have  also  a  tradition  that  Anna  (Alden) 
Snell  had  a  brother  Zachariah  and  I  think  it  prob- 
able that  the  Mary  Alden  who  married  Samuel 
Allen  in  1700  was  his  daughter,  who  was  in  Bridge- 
water  visiting  her  sister. 

"  On  the  list  of  freemen,  May  twenty-ninth,  1670, 
in  Duxbury,  is  a  John  Alden,  Jr.  At  that  time 
Capt.  John  Alden  was  in  Boston,  and  it  looks  to 
me  as  if  there  were  a  son  of  Zachariah  who  might 
be  old  enough  to  serve.  At  any  rate  I  place  this 
John  in  Zachariah's  family.  I  know  nothing  fur- 
ther of  him. 

"  There  is  no  will  or  settlement  of  the  estate,  and 
altogether  this  family  is  very  unsatisfactory.  We 
know  John  Alden  had  eleven  children.  We  have 
found  ten  —  and  the  strong  family  tradition  in  the 
poet  Bryant's  family  —  the  name  Zachariah  in 
Captain  John's  family  —  the  Mary,  wife  of  some 
son,  who  signs  the  receipt  of  heirs  —  all  lead  us 
to  place  Zachariah  as  the  missing  child." 

Of  the  two  remaining  daughters  concerning 
whom  we  know  more  than  the  mere  name,  Ruth, 
the  elder,  ancestress  of  the  Presidents  Adams,  was 
born  some  time  during  the  years  1634-6.  On  the 
"  12  mo.  3  d.  1657,  John  Bass  and  Ruth  Aulden 
were  married  by  Mr.  John  Aulden  of  Duxbury," 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  169 

as  the  old  record  tells  us.  Seven  children  were 
born  of  this  wedding:  John,  Samuel,  Ruth,  Joseph, 
Hannah,  Mary,  Sarah.  The  mother  died  in  1674 
at  her  home  in  Braintree,  but  John  Bass  lived  to 
marry  a  second  time  and  for  many  a  year  there- 
after, dying  in  1716. 

Mary,  the  youngest  daughter  of  John  and  Pris- 
cilla,  was  born  in  1643.  I*1  l^7  sne  married  Dr. 
Thomas  Delano,  son  of  the  Huguenot  Pilgrim, 
Philip  de  la  Noye,  who  came  to  Plymouth  in  the 
"  Fortune  "  in  1621.  The  date  of  Mary  Delano's 
death  is  not  known.  Eight  children  are  attributed 
to  her:  Benoni,  Thomas,  Jonathan,  David,  Mary, 
Sarah,  Ruth  and  Joseph. 

The  youngest  child  of  the  Pilgrim  was  the  son 
David.  He  was  born  in  Duxbury  in  1646.  In 
1670  he  married  Mercy,  daughter  of  Constant 
Southworth,  the  latter  a  son  by  her  first  husband, 
Edward  Southworth,  of  Governor  Bradford's  sec- 
ond wife,  Alice.  He  died  in  1719.  He  owned  land 
in  Duxbury,  Pembroke  and  Middleborough,  part 
of  it  at  least  deeded  to  him  by  his  father.  His 
children  were:  Henry,  Ruth,  Elizabeth,  Priscilla, 
Benjamin,  Alice  and  Samuel. 

Concerning  David  Alden,  Justin  Winsor  says 
that  he  "was  much  employed  in  the  public  busi- 


1 70  PILGRIM  ALDBN 

ness  of  the  town,  one  of  its  selectmen,  its  deputy 
and  likewise  an  assistant  in  the  government.  He 
was  a  prominent  member  of  the  church,  said  to 
have  been  one  of  its  deacons,  and  a  man  of  the 
highest  respectability." 

Thus  briefly  is  finished  the  count  of  the  house- 
hold of  John  and  Priscilla  Alden.  Concerning  most 
of  the  children  our  information  is  very  meagre,  but 
we  know  enough  to  be  well  assured  that  the  fam- 
ily was  one  that  honored  the  parents  which  gave 
so  many  useful  citizens  to  the  community,  and  we 
cannot  but  believe  that  in  their  older  years  these 
parents  were  well  rejoiced  in  their  offspring.  While 
none  of  the  sons  left  a  reputation  equal  to  the 
father's  and  none  of  the  daughters  a  romance  such 
as  the  mother's,  still  each  occupied  a  position  of 
usefulness  and  trust  in  the  growing  community  so 
that  the  family  as  a  whole  contributed  not  a  little 
to  its  substantial  development.  They  were  loyal 
sons  of  the  state  and  devout  daughters  of  the 
church,  these  sons  and  daughters  of  Pilgrim  Alden, 
and  they  performed  well  the  duties  which  were 
theirs. 

It  is  notable  that  no  son  of  John  Alden  shows 
quite  the  versatile  range  of  activity  of  the  father. 
Not  one  of  them  but  had  varied  interests,  yet  each 


A  PILGRIM  HOUSEHOLD  171 

shows  a  narrowing  bent,  carrying  on  one  or  two 
branches  of  the  parent's  work,  leaving  the  remain- 
der to  the  other  brothers,  so  that  in  the  whole  fam- 
ily of  sons  we  find  nearly  all  of  John  Alden's  em- 
ployments represented. 

Thus  Captain  John  was  a  mariner  and  soldier, 
Captain  Jonathan  a  soldier  and  farmer,  Joseph  a 
farmer,  David  farmer,  deputy  and  deacon.  This 
was  natural  enough,  for  it  betokened  the  begin- 
nings of  that  process  of  specialization  even  yet 
going  on  in  our  midst.  The  infant  Colony  was  out 
of  its  swaddling  clothes;  it  was  assuming  the  form 
and  organization  of  a  state;  the  foundations,  laid 
at  the  framing  of  the  Pilgrim  Compact,  were  tested 
and  found  firm,  and  the  superstructure  of  a  great 
civilization  was  being  reared  upon  it.  And  the  part 
which  they  and  their  descendants  have  played  in 
this  rearing  is  not  a  little  to  the  credit  and  glory  of 
the  vigorous  Alden  stock  firm  planted  in  the  New 
Land. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY. 

NTERING  Duxbury  from  Plymouth 
via  the  Old  Colony  Railroad,  you  may 
notice,  just  as  the  train  is  slowing 
down  for  its  stop  at  Duxbury  station, 
on  the  right  and  not  far  from  the  road- 
bed, an  old-time  house  of  the  type  most 
common  in  this  eldest  neighborhood 
of  New  England.  There  is  the  great 
central  chimney,  with  the  house  seem- 
ingly built  around  it;  there  are  the  plain,  rectan- 
gular lines  of  Puritan  architecture ;  there  are  the 
unpainted  walls,  covered  with  shingles  rather  than 
clapboard;  the  small  windows  with  many  panes, — 
all  the  weather-brunting  characteristics  of  the 
early  Cape  Cod  builder. 

At  a  glance  you  will  recognize  the  house  as  one 
of  the  first  made,  and  if  you  are  of  the  lineage  of 
Alden,  come  thither  for  the  first  time,  the  recogni- 
tion may  be  of  a  more  intimate  sort  and  accom- 
panied by  a  thrill  of  something  like  a  long-looked- 
for  home-return.  For  this  old  house  is  the  home- 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY  173 

stead  of  the  Aldens,  the  nursery,  they  tell  us,  of  the 
children  of  John  and  Priscilla. 

Every  recurring  summer  season  counts  scores  of 
pilgrims,  descendants  of  that  Pilgrim  of  other  days, 
bound  for  this  Mecca  of  their  race;  and  every  re- 
curring autumn  finds  as  fruit  of  this  in  the  pilgrims' 
many  homes  a  renewed  and  invigorated  patriotism 
and  honest  family  pride.  For  the  old  house  is  in 
a  way  the  symbol  of  the  splendid  vitality  of  those 
in  whose  veins  the  blood  of  John  Alden  is  perpetu- 
ated. It  is  now  almost  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
that  it  has  sheltered,  as  still  it  shelters,  children  and 
childrens'  children  of  the  family's  founder. 

No  other  American  family  can  show  such  a  rec- 
ord of  local  stability;  and  while  there  are  a  few 
older  houses  in  New  England,  there  is  none  which 
has  been  held  so  long  in  the  family  of  the  original 
builder.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  record  may  be 
continued  unbroken,  and  that  while  the  house  is 
preserved  it  may  remain  in  the  hands  of  its  build- 
er's kindred. 

John  Alden's  farmstead  in  Duxbury  originally 
contained  about  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  acres. 
The  land  is  low  and  slightly  rolling,  well  watered 
and  fertile.  It  has  long  been  considered  one  of  the 
best  portions  of  farming  land  in  the  town.  Now- 


I74  'PILGRIM  ALDEN 

adays  most  of  the  original  land  has  been  alienated 
from  the  family  and  only  the  house  with  the  few 
acres  of  land  forming  the  house  lot  remain  in  Alden 
possession.  But  many  of  the  ancient  landmarks 
are  still  preserved. 

There  is  the  little  knoll  upon  which  John  Alden's 
first  Duxbury  home  was  reared, —  in  1627,  the 
weather-worn  slab,  there  erected,  tells  us.  To  the 
south  of  this  knoll  is  meadowland  leading  down  to 
the  wooded  shores  of  Eagle  Tree  Pond  —  a  beauti- 
ful little  lake,  in  summer  fringed  with  rushes  and 
water  lilies,  its  tree-clad  borders  eloquent  with  the 
bird-poetry  native  to  New  England  woodland. 
Most  interesting  of  all  are  the  ancient  Eagle  Trees 
from  which  the  pond  derived  its  name.  These  two 
trees  stand  solitary  in  the  midst  of  swamp  fields, 
their  strained  and  twisted  branches,  once  the  favor- 
ite perches  of  the  now-vanished  eagles,  mutely  at- 
testing their  long-endured  struggle  with  wind  and 
frost. 

The  landscape  is  characteristic  of  the  vicinity. 
On  every  side  are  fields  and  lowlands,  alternating 
meadow  and  garden,  house  lot  and  wood  lot.  Oc- 
casionally, rising  abruptly  from  the  lower  level,  a 
hill  or  group  of  hills  such  as  the  tall  land-rise  to  the 
east  which  protects  the  homestead  on  the  seaward 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY  175 

side.  Of  course  there  are  houses  —  of  many  types 
and  generations,  from  the  strong-founded  dwellings 
of  the  first  comers  to  the  snugly  comfortable  mod- 
ern cottage. 

And  close  at  hand  is  the  railway, —  the  bell  and 
whistle  of  the  locomotive  summoning  back  into  the 
present,  with  sharp  command,  the  errant  fancy 
which  would  seek  too  freely  on  this  ground  of 
memories  the  vanished  realities  of  the  past. 

But  despite  the  proximity  of  blatant  modernity 
(for  surely  a  steam  engine  is  nothing  less),  one 
cannot  stand  before  the  old  house,  noting  its  bend- 
ing beams,  its  creased  and  furrowed  surfaces, —  for 
an  old  house,  like  an  old  man,  becomes  bowed  and 
wrinkled, —  without  feeling  somewhat  the  vener- 
able mystery  of  age.  The  old  scenes,  the  old  inhab- 
itants,—  you  almost  expect  to  see  a  tall  Pilgrim 
step  from  the  door,  buckled  and  breeched  and 
leathered,  with  bell-mouthed  blunderbuss  or  flint- 
lock and  rest  at  his  shoulder,  as  the  old  prints  have 
taught  us  to  picture  him.  Or  it  may  be  that  you 
look  for  the  demure  Puritan  maiden,  none  the  less 
charming  for  all  her  gray  garb,  and  adept,  as  maids 
are  bound  to  be  somehow  or  other,  with  kerchief 
coquetry.  And  then  the  ear,  eager  to  supplement 
the  mind's  eye's  vision,  wakes  to  a  musical  hum- 


I76  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

ming  that  can  be  nothing  other  than  the  song  of 
the  spinning-wheel,  from  which  momentarily,  as 
from  the  opening  chords  of  the  orchestra,  you  ex- 
pect to  hear  the  voice  of  the  singer  catch  up  the 
thread  of  melody  and  weave  it  into  the  more  inti- 
mate music  of  the  heart's  desire. 

Probably  your  revery  —  if  so  you  lose  yourself 
—  will  very  soon  be  broken  by  some  one  of  the 
ever-recurring  reminders  of  modern  life  —  the 
whistle  or  the  clang  of  cars,  the  petulant  puffing 
of  the  swift-passing  automobile,  or  yet  the  ener- 
getic speech  of  the  acclimated  American,  far  differ- 
ent from  the  gentle  "  prithee "  and  the  archaic 
"  thou "  and  "  thine "  of  our  forefathers.  So 
awakening,  with  Twentieth  century  earth  under- 
foot, the  bright  sun  shedding  daylight  all  about, 
you  lock  your  fancy  tight  in  its  dark  closet  and  en- 
ter the  old  house  with  firm  resolve  to  see  only  with 
modern  eyes. 

Now,  ten  to  one,  the  fancy  will  steal  out  upon 
you  unawares  before  ever  you  have  set  foot  across 
the  threshold.  The  lure  is  too  strong  and  your 
lock  too  insecure.  But  is  it  not  better  so?  If  you 
would  know  it  at  its  best,  the  old  place  must  be 
seen  with  all  the  eyes  God  has  given  you,  and  the 
eye  of  the  imagination  is  not  the  dullest  among 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY  177 

these.  Neither  must  you  close  your  ears,  for  there 
are  whisperings  of  the  ancient  rafters  which  only 
the  ear  tuned  to  sympathy  with  their  tales  may 
hope  to  hear.  Then,  fancy  free,  let  us  enter. 

At  first  step  —  if  we  go  in  by  the  front  door 
which  faces  south  —  we  find  ourselves  in  a  little 
hallway  with  doors  to  the  right  and  to  the  left  and 
before  us,  creeping  up  the  broad  central  buttress 
of  chimney,  a  narrow  wooden  stairway,  almost  lad- 
der-like in  its  steepness.  We  stop,  perhaps,  to  note 
the  old  woodwork  with  marks  of  the  original  tool- 
ing, crude  but  hearty,  still  plain,  and  those  other 
scars  due  to  the  wear  and  accident  of  time.  How 
many,  many  feet  have  trodden  these  stairs, —  be- 
ginning, it  may  be,  as  creeping  children  to  whom 
the  surmounting  of  each  separate  step  is  new 
achievement;  ending  as  the  trembling  octogena- 
rian who  steadies  his  slow  descent  by  careful  grasp 
of  the  rude  hand-rail.  A  stairway  is  somehow  al- 
ways symbolic  of  the  risings  and  settings  of  the 
lives  of  those  who  pass  up  and  down. 

But  we  do  not  follow  the  stair  now.  We  turn 
rather  to  the  door  at  the  right  and  enter  the  Great 
Room,  as  our  fathers  called  the  apartment  wherein 
was  centered  the  social  dignities  of  their  home  life. 
This  room  is  about  seventeen  by  twenty  feet  in  its 


178  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

horizontal  dimensions  and  about  nine  feet  high. 
There  are  windows  —  each  with  its  twelve  small 
panes  —  on  both  the  southern  and  eastern  sides  of 
the  room. 

In  addition  to  the  door  leading  from  the  hallway, 
there  is  another  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  chim- 
ney opening  into  the  living  room.  Originally 
nearly  the  whole  western  side  of  the  Great  Room 
was  occupied  by  a  capacious  fireplace  hollowed  out 
on  this  side  of  the  big  chimney,  but  later  most  of 
the  space  was  covered  with  a  paneling  of  wood, 
and  a  small  iron  grate,  about  sixty  years  old,  is 
the  modern  means  of  heating.  In  this  room  are 
gathered  the  few  relics  of  the  early  dwellers  that 
still  remain  in  the  house  —  plates  and  platters  of 
old  pewter,  one  or  two  antique  chairs,  bits  of  hand- 
wrought  iron.  There  is  also  here  to  be  seen  a 
large  picture  representing  John  Alden  in  his  court- 
ship days  holding  the  yarn  which  Priscilla,  with 
pretty  tyranny,  winds  for  her  spinning.  This  pic- 
ture, they  tell  us,  was  designed  by  Mr.  John  Tol- 
man  Alden  of  St.  Louis,  and  executed  at  his  order. 

In  one  corner  of  the  room  is  a  built-in  cupboard, 
and  here,  we  may  imagine,  the  Pilgrim  Father 
must  have  kept  his  choicer  treasures,  his  books, 
and  among  them  that  well-thumbed  Bible  which 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY  179 

lies  under  the  glass  in  Pilgrim  Hall  at  Plymouth. 
Doubtless  it  was  in  this  room  that  the  family 
prayers  were  held,  and  so  we  think  of  John  and 
Priscilla  in  their  maturer  years,  with  children  and 
grandchildren  gathered  about  them,  leading  the 
simple  devotions  of  morning  and  evening1  after  the 
custom  of  those  of  the  Congregation  of  Leyden. 
Later,  perhaps,  when  the  son  Jonathan  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  headship  of  the  family,  and  old  eyes 
were  kss  ready  in  following  even  familiar  texts, 
they  must  still  have  gathered  as  before,  except  that 
now  the  grandsire  held  son's  son  on  his  knee  while 
the  two  listened  to  the  deep-voiced  reading  of  him 
who  had  succeeded  to  the  duties  and  responsibili- 
ties of  active  family  leadership. 

Ntear  this  corner  cupboard  or  closet  is  a  panel 
of  wood  behind  which,  being  raised,  you  may  see 
the  date  of  the  erection  of  the  house,  "  1653,"  cut 
into  the  planking.  It  was  a  goodly  custom  of  the 
early  builder  and  has  preserved  to  us  the  date  of 
building  of  the  Munroe  Tavern  at  Lexington  and 
other  old  structures  of  historic  interest. 

Passing  from  the  Great  Room,  we  enter  the  Liv- 
ing Room.  This  was  in  olden  times  pre-eminently 
the  woman's  domain,  and  consequently  here  cen- 
tered all  the  livelier  domestic  activities.  It  is  a  long, 


i8o  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

narrow  room,  less  than  a  dozen  feet  wide  and  in 
length  fully  three-fourths  of  the  longer  dimension 
of  the  house,  and  that  is  forty  feet  or  more.  At  the 
eastern  side  of  it  is  an  entry-way  and  door;  at  the 
western  a  small  bed-room.  On  the  northern  side 
are  windows  and  doorway  leading  into  the  annex 
added  in  later  years  to  the  original  house. 

Opposite  is  a  broadside  of  the  great  chimney  — 
twelve  or  fifteen  feet  square  at  the  base, —  and  here 
formerly  was  another  huge  fireplace,  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  house,  since  it  was  the  hearth  of 
the  cookery.  We  cannot  think  of  those  early  New 
England  dinners,  especially  when  the  great 
Thanksgiving  feast  came  round,  without  a  certain 
appetitive  wistfulness  for  the  good  things  of  other 
days.  We  wonder,  too,  how  far  the  delicacies 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  associate  with  that 
season  of  cheer  were  known  to  its  mistress  when 
the  big  fireplace  cooked  its  first  Thanksgiving  din- 
ner. The  turkey  certainly, —  but  the  Indian  pud- 
ding, the  brown  bread,  the  chowders,  the  pumpkin 
and  above  all  the  toothsome  mince  pie  —  all  these 
higher  achievements  of  New  England  cookery. 

Doubtless  Priscilla  played  her  part  in  the  devel- 
opment of  these  dainties,  and  it  would  be  vastly 
interesting  to  her  descendants  to  know  just  what 


THE  OLD  HO  MB  AT  DUXBURY  181 

that  part  was.  The  housewife  in  those  days  was 
thrown  much  upon  her  own  resources  and  inven- 
tiveness —  for  which  may  posterity  ever  be  grate- 
ful !  —  and  the  creations  of  her  handicraft  reflect 
no  small  credit  on  the  vigor  of  her  abilities.  Some- 
thing may  have  been  borrowed  from  the  Indians  — 
raw  materials  —  but  the  culinary  achievement  was 
hers. 

In  the  early  days  the  Living  Room  served  not 
only  as  kitchen  and  dining  room,  but  also  as  nur- 
sery, sewing  and  spinning  room,  and  as  gathering 
hall  for  family  life  and  neighborly  gossip.  Here  in 
preference  to  the  more  austere  Great  Room  the 
young  folks  spent  their  winter  evenings  with  games 
and  merry-making,  apples  and  chestnuts  and  cider, 
while  oftener  than  not,  we  may  imagine,  the  elders 
chose  this  genial  setting  for  their  own  graver  con- 
verse. 

From  the  Living  Room  we  take  a  peep  into  the 
little  bed-room  at  the  western  end  where,  tradition 
has  it,  both  John  and  Priscilla  breathed  their  final 
mortal  breath.  It  is  a  tiny  chamber,  but  it  opened 
into  the  warmest  and  cheeriest  of  the  home  apart- 
ments and  so  was  most  suitable  for  those  subject 
to  the  chills  of  approaching  age. 

We  enter  now  the  parlor,  or  Best  Room,  as  our 


1 82  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

forefathers'  more  simply  picturesque  language 
termed  it.  It  is  parallel  with  the  Great  Room  and 
of  about  the  same  size.  This  room  was  doubtless 
reserved  for  the  reception  of  functionaries,  Gov- 
ernor Bradford,  the  elders,  ministers  and  guests 
who  came  hither  on  business  or  to  take  counsel 
with  Magistrate  Alden.  Doubtless,  too,  this  was 
the  room  alloted  the  maids  for  the  reception  of 
young  men  who  came  a-wooing.  After  the  mar- 
riage, though,  we  can  imagine  that  the  young  folks 
were  glad  to  go  back  to  the  Living  Room,  on  their 
home  returns,  and  to  the  family  society  there 
gathered.  Which  was  right  enough  and  as  it  ought 
to  be,  for  courting  is  at  best  a  selfishness  of  two  — 
necessary,  no  doubt,  but  happiest  when  gotten 
safely  over. 

Leaving  the  Best  Room,  we  re-enter  the  hallway, 
and  now  we  climb  that  curious  narrow  stairway 
up  over  the  broad  shoulder  of  the  chimney.  We 
turn  again  to  the  right  and  enter  the  Guest  Room 
which  is  just  above  the  Great  Room.  The  first  thing 
to  attract  our  attention  is  the  odd  three-panelled 
door  whereby  we  enter.  We  see  the  characteristics 
of  hand  workmanship  and  when  we  learn  that  the 
door  is  reputed  to  have  been  taken  from  the  earlier 
house  on  the  Duxbury  farm,  we  can  but  wonder 


THE  STAIR,  ALDEN  HOUSE. 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY  183 

if  the  door  may  not  have  been  the  work  of  John 
Alden  himself,  for  we  know  that  first  of  all  he  was 
an  adept  toolsman.  The  low  ceiling,  the  curious 
built-in  dresser,  the  great  axe-hewn  beams  of  sup- 
port in  the  corners,  which  in  this  upper  story  are 
bare  to  the  eye,  are  other  points  of  interest.  We 
cannot  but  regret,  here  as  elsewhere  in  the  house, 
the  necessity  for  paint  and  paper  that  conceal  with 
immodest  modesty  the  naked  strength  of  the  prim- 
itive structure.  It  is  so  in  all  the  five  remaining 
sleeping  rooms  which  occupy  this  floor.  Only  in 
the  queer  little  windows,  the  rough  corner  beams, 
the  doors  and  casings  is  the  old  builders'  craft  ap- 
parent. 

There  is,  however,  a  little  glimpse  of  it  in  the 
divided  door  that  leads  into  the  attic  of  the  annex 
—  a  door  of  the  sort  we  sometimes  see  pictured, 
the  lower  half  of  which  kept  truant-tending  babes 
within,  while  the  upper  half,  swung  open,  served  in 
fair  weather  as  an  extra  window  and  sun-vent.  Of 
course  that  could  not  have  been  a  use  of  a  door 
placed  as  this  one,  and  we  must  guess  that  it  was 
brought  hither  after  having  done  service  elsewhere. 

Another  odd  door,  with  two  little  diamond- 
shaped  windows  in  it,  leads  up  to  the  -great  attic 
of  the  original  house,  where,  better  than  in  any 


184  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

other  place,  the  ribs  and  beams  of  the  house  may 
be  observed.  It  is  a  dark  old  attic,  in  the  centre 
the  big  plastered  chimney  sloping  up  to  the  roof, 
overhead  bare  rafters,  and  all  about  enough  musty 
gloom  to  give  it  the  congenial  savor  of  antiquity. 
We  examine  a  loosened  brick,  probably  an  early 
importation  from  England,  and  see  that  it  is  but  a 
rude  precursor  of  the  product  of  the  modern  kiln. 
The  hand-wrought  nails  are  another  reminder  of 
the  toilsomeness  of  early  achievement;  and  lastly 
there  is  the  beam,  supposed  to  be  another  relic 
of  the  first  house,  the  side  of  which  is  indented 
with  holes  for  the  reception  of  the  wooden  pegs 
which  were  used  for  joinings  before  nails  of  any 
sort  were  to  be  had. 

Most  of  the  attic  accumulation  has  been  taken 
away  by  the  successive  generations  of  those  depart- 
ing children  of  the  old  stock  who  wished  to  bear 
with  them  some  reminder  of  the  home  place  and 
of  their  birthright.  Still  the  antique  brass  lantern 
yonder  in  the  corner,  its  peaked  top  and  the  round 
holes  in  its  metal  sides  which  served  to  emit  the 
light  of  the  candle  within,  is  not  without  interest; 
nor  yet  the  old  mirror  frames,  hair  trunks,  the 
"  Yankee  baker  "  by  the  chimney,  the  huge  scoop 
and  sugar  scales  that  belonged  to  Major  Alden  of 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY  185 

Revolutionary  days,  and  the  ledger  begun  in  1771. 
Modern  as  these  things  are  in  the  history  of  the 
house,  they  seem  old  to  us  unattached  Americans 
of  the  Twentieth  century. 

Descending,  we  pass  once  more  into  the  open 
air,  but  before  leaving  let  us  take  a  peep  into  the 
cellar.  It  is  entered  from  an  out-door  cellarway  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  house.  The  floor  of  it  is 
roughly  cobbled  with  untrimmed  stones,  and  the 
walls  are  built  up  in  a  similar  manner.  We  find 
large  chunks  of  mortar  fallen  from  the  poorly 
joined  masonry,  and  it  seems  a  wonder  that  work- 
manship so  crude  should  have  endured  so  well. 
Overhead  are  the  great  under  beams  of  the  house. 
We  need  not  be  very  tall  to  reach  up  to  them,  and 
one  we  find  is  partially  decayed  —  another  relic  of 
the  first  dwelling,  the  house  historian  tells  you. 

Once  more  in  the  open  air.  The  sun  is  shining 
—  an  hour  higher  in  the  sky  —  with  same  white 
brilliance  with  which  he  shone  one,  two,  three  hun- 
dred years  ago, —  when  the  house  was  building, 
before  the  house  was.  Indeed,  it  is  the  same  white 
brilliance  with  which  he  shone  a  thousand  years, 
or  ten  or  a  hundred  thousand  years  ago:  how  long, 
who  can  say?  The  house  seems  old  to  us,  but  it  is 
old  only  in  comparison  with  the  human  life  of  its 


186  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

builders.  Compared  with  the  sun's  life  it  has  stood 
but  an  hour.  Even  the  plains  and  the  hills,  and 
over  yonder,  just  concealed  from  us,  the  ocean, — 
the  hoary  and  venerable  features  of  the  earth, — are 
in  infancy  beside  the  sun's  years. 

It  seems  odd  that  living,  creative  intelligence 
should  be  the  most  fleeting  and  evanescent  of  all 
things  in  the  panorama  of  Nature,  so  that  a  'bare 
tenement  of  wood,  built  for  a  day,  outlasts  its  build- 
er, and  the  generations  of  his  descendants.  Yet  we 
know  that  to  him  this  house  seemed  but  a  day's 
resting  place  in  the  course  of  the  soul's  life,  and 
surely  the  children  of  those  who  surrendered  so 
much  for  the  integrity  of  their  faith  may  cling  fast 
to  this  noblest  article  of  their  credo  —  that  after 
the  earth  had  claimed  its  own,  the  soul  shall  live 
again,  the  better  life  of  its  earthly  building. 

Again  the  steam  whistle  and  again  we  are 
roused  from  revery.  So  we  bid  farewell  to  ths  final 
earthly  abiding  place  of  those  who  came  as  Pil- 
grims seeking  freedom  for  conscience  sake.  Plain 
and  unpretentious  we  have  found  it,  yet  is  it  elo- 
quent in  every  board  and  beam  of  the  higher  life 
and  higher  ideals  in  whose  cause  it  was  reared. 
And  when,  departing,  we  learn  that  the  present 
master  of  the  house  is  a  John  Alden  and  that  the 


THE  OLD  HOME  AT  DUXBURY  187 

daughter  of  the  house  is  a  Priscilla,  we  cannot  but 
feel  that  there  is  good  and  appropriate  augury 
in  this  for  the  future  of  a  family  which  so  carefully 
honors  its  names  and  traditions.  May  they  ever 
continue  the  good  and  substantial  part  which  those 
of  the  blood  of  Alden  have  played  in  their  country's 
upbuilding. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


ALDENS  of  LATER  DAYS. 

COMPLETE  genealogy  of  the  de- 
scendants of  John  Alden  and  Priscilla, 
supposing  that  such  a  work  were  pos- 
sible, would  comprise  many  thousand 
names.  Reckoning  an  average  increase 
of  three  for  each  person  born  into  the 
family,  there  would  be  in  the  eighth 
and  ninth  generations  alone  nearly  ten 
thousand  names,  while  the  tenth  gen- 
eration, already  in  early  youth,  would  add  almost 
twice  as  many  again.  This  rate  is  high  for 
the  present  increase,  since  families  such  as  adorned 
our  fathers'  households  are  not  often  to  be  met 
with  nowadays,  but  for  former  times  an  aver- 
age increase  of  three  is  much  too  modest  a  figure. 
In  the  first  five  generations  of  the  family,  for  ex- 
ample, it  was  exceeded  in  the  name  of  Alden  alone, 
without  taking  into  account  the  progeny  of  the 
daughters  who  married  into  other  families.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  rate  named  has  been  maintained 
at  least  through  the  eighth  generation,  and  that  no 
Pilgrim  blood  has  percolated  further  through 
American  society  than  that  of  Alden. 


Miss  Abigail  Thayer. 
Rev.  Edmund  Kimball  Alden. 


Rev.  Marcus  Alden  Tolman. 
Miles  Standish  Alden. 


ALDENS  OF  LA  TER  DA  YS  1 89 

But  perhaps  even  more  than  by  its  healthy  in- 
crease, the  wonderful  vitality  of  the  race  is  evi- 
denced by  the  longevity  of  its  members,  character- 
istic from  the  first  generation  down.  The  Pilgrim 
founder  of  the  family  died  in  his  eighty-seventh 
year,  but  many  of  his  descendants  have  exceeded 
him  in  age.  Three,  at  least,  have  scored  the  full 
century  —  John  Alden  of  Middleborough,  Mass., 
born  1718,  died  1821;  Abigail  Alden,  who  married 
Zephaniah  Leonard,  born  1744,  died  1845;  anc^ 
Mrs.  David  Burnett  of  Cape  Vincent  on  the  St. 
Lawrence,  who  celebrated  her  one  hundred  second 
birthday  in  1901.  Elizabeth  Pabodie  was  the  first 
of  the  family  to  pass  the  age  of  ninety,  but  there 
have  been  many  after  her. 

Eighty  years  is  no  uncommon  age  among  Alden 
descendants,  while  a  glance  at  Ebenezer  Alden's 
Genealogy  conveys  the  impression  that  the  more 
part  of  those  who  have  lived  to  adult  years  have 
attained  the  three  score  and  ten  of  Biblical  prom- 
ise. There  are  even  now  a  number  of  instances  of 
the  co-existence  of  represntatives  of  four  genera- 
tions in  the  same  family  succession, —  among  the 
great-grandmothers  may  be  mentioned  Mrs.  Cath- 
erine Alden  Alden  of  Janesville,  Wis.,  and  Mrs. 
Ella  Alden  Sullivan  of  Brockton,  Mass.,  while  Mrs. 


1 90  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

David  Burnett,  above  referred  to,  is  credited  with 
having-  gathered  about  her  representatives  of  five 
generations  of  her  own  descendants  —  a  record 
that  outdoes  even  Elizabeth  Pabodie's,  who  was  a 
grandmother's  grandmother  in  her  own  lifetime. 

Mr.  Henry  Sherman  Alden  of  Chautauqua  coun- 
ty, New  York,  is  one  of  the  oldest  male  descend- 
ants of  the  Pilgrim,  having  been  born  in  1821.  He 
has  in  his  possession  an  interesting  heirloom  from 
his  forefather,  a  picture  of  which  may  be  seen  on 
another  pag^e.  It  is  an  old  snow-shoe  concerning 
which  he  writes:  "  It  is  so  moth-eaten  that  there  is 
no  beauty  in  it;  it  came  down  through  the  genera- 
tions as  one  that  John  got  from  the  tribe  of  Indians 
near  Plymouth;  it  has  no  nails  or  wire,  but  is  made 
of  buckskin  and  seaweed,  well  braided."  Miss  Abi- 
gail Thayer  of  Boston  was  born  in  1805,  daughter 
of  Deacon  Eliphaz  Thayer  of  Braintree.  Her  father 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  in  recognition  of 
his  services  Miss  Thayer  was  presented  with  a  gold 
spoon  by  the  Society  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution.  Miss  Thayer  is  the  survivor 
of  a  family  of  fourteen  children, — a  typical  old-time 
Alden  family.  It  is  recorded  of  another  Alden- 
connected  Thayer,  Ephraim,  who  married  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  Pilgrims'  daughter,  that  he,  his  wife  and 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  191 

fourteen  married  children  on  one  occasion  went  to- 
gether to  communion. 

That  the  proverbial  size  of  the  Alden  family  is 
not  wholly  of  the  past  is  evidenced  by  the  family 
of  Mr.  Charles  L.  Alden  of  Hyde  Park.  The  group 
is  shown  on  another  page,  and,  as  evidence  of  the 
strength  of  family  tradition,  includes  the  names 
John  and  Priscilla,  Ruth  and  Miles  Standish.  The 
family  mourns  the  recent  loss  of  a  baby  son  and 
brother,  Bradford.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  note 
that  among  the  Alden  descendants  not  all  are  of 
the  goodly  stature  accredited  to  the  first  John. 
Probably  the  famous  Tom  Thumb,  made  famous 
by  Barnum,  was  the  most  diminutive  of  the  Aldens. 

The  life  activities  of  men  of  the  Alden  descent 
have  been  manifold  in  kind  and  prolific  in  achieve- 
ment. The  record  of  fifty  years  of  magisterial  ser- 
vice to  Plymouth  Colony  by  the  first  John  Alden 
has  been  an  inspiring  example  to  his  successors 
in  the  name  and  the  blood.  They  have  never  been 
men  to  shirk  public  service,  and  they  have  always 
taken  a  keen  and  active  interest  in  civic  affairs.  A 
glance  at  the  titles  of  some  of  the  pamphlets  and 
printed  pleas  issued  over  Alden  names  is  a  fair 
index  of  the  aggressive  type  of  citizenship  which 
they  stand  for:  "Despotism  vs.  Republicanism," 


192 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 


Chapters  from  "  Vaticanism  Unmasked,  by  a  Puri- 
tan of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  "  Emancipation 
and  Emigration  " —  a  plan  for  the  settlement  of 
Southern  freedmen  in  the  West ;  and  more  recently 
a  declaration  that  the  Boer  Republics  "  are  and  of 
right  ought  to  be  free." 

In  this  connection  we  must  not  forget  Noah 
Alden  and  his  contentions  for  religious  freedom  in 
the  Massachusetts  of  earlier  days,  nor  yet  the  ser- 
vices of  the  two  Presidents  Adams,  descended  from 
John  Alden  through  Ruth,  the  wife  of  John  Bass, 
—  of  the  first  for  our  national  liberty,  of  the  second 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  family  of  Brad- 
ford is  another  prominent  in  Massachusetts  politi- 
cal life  into  which  has  entered  a  strong  infusion  of 
Alden  blood.  The  sinews  of  American  statehood 
have  been  not  a  little  strengthened  by  such  infu- 
sions. 

But  it  is  not  alone  for  civic  services  that  the 
name  of  Alden  has  been  prominent.  From  the  first 
the  race  has  had  a  strong  leaning  toward  military 
duties.  Doubtless  all  the  sons  of  John  the  Pilgrim 
were  members  of  the  local  militia.  Two,  at  least, 
John,  Jr.,  and  Jonathan,  attained  prominence  in 
military  life.  The  descendants  of  the  latter,  espe- 
cially, have  always  shown  themselves  ready  to  re- 


A LDENS  OF  LA  TER  DA  YS  193 

spond  to  the  nation's  call,  and  there  has  been 
hardly  a  generation  in  which  the  old  house  at  Dux- 
bury  has  not  sent  forth  father  or  son  to  fight  the 
country's  battles.  In  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
the  sons  of  Col.  Briggs  Alden,  then  the  head  of  the 
household  at  Duxbury  and  himself  a  prominent  ad- 
vocate of  Colonial  rights,  were  among  the  first  to 
volunteer.  One  son,  Samuel,  was  mortally  wound- 
ed in  an  expedition  to  the  Penobscot  River  against 
the  British  in  1778.  A  second  son,  Judah,  who 
afterward  succeeded  to  the  old  homestead,  served 
throughout  the  war  as  a  trusted  and  skillful  officer, 
attaining  the  rank  of  major. 

Col.  Ichabod  Alden,  a  descendant  of  David,  the 
Pilgrim's  youngest  son,  was  another  valiant  officer 
in  the  Revolution  who  lost  his  life  in  the  service  of 
the  country.  He  was  killed  by  Indian  mercenaries 
of  the  British  in  northern  New  York  in  November, 
1778.  Maj.  Roger  Alden  was  an  aide  of  General 
Greene  in  the  War  of  Independence,  and  his  son 
Bradford,  who  was  with  General  Scott  on  the  fron- 
tier, was  an  instructor  at  West  Point  and  at  one 
time  commandant  there.  Many  others  of  the  name 
and  many  of  the  descent  served  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War,  and  the  like  may  be  said  of  all  the  wars 
that  have  followed. 


i94  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Among  the  Aldens  serving  in  the  Civil  War  we 
are  not  surprised  to  find  the  present  head  of  the 
family  at  Dux-bury,  preserving  the  military  tradi- 
tion of  his  line.  Gen.  Alonzo  Alden  of  Troy,  N.  Y., 
won  distinction  in  the  same  great  conflict.  The 
navy,  too,  has  received  eminent  service  from  the 
family.  In  the  early  days  many  Aldens  beside  Cap- 
tain John  of  Boston  were  sea  captains,  so  that  the 
family  afforded  good  material  for  this  service.  The 
most  eminent  was  Rear  Admiral  James  Alden,  who 
died  in  1877.  He  served  both  in  the  Mexican  and 
Civil  Wars,  and  in  the  latter  conflict  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  Richmond  at  New  Orleans  and  of  the 
Brooklyn  at  Mobile  Bay  and  Fort  Fisher.  Rev. 
Charles  Henry  Alden,  an  accomplished  scholar  and 
teacher,  served  for  several  years  as  chaplain  in  the 
United  States  Navy,  dying  at  Pensacola,  Florida, 
in  1846,  in  consequence  of  severe  hospital  labors 
brought  on  by  the  Mexican  War, —  a  noble  repre- 
sentative of  the  Church  Militant. 

In  all  the  higher  professions  the  family  has  been 
well  represented  throughout  our  colonial  and  na- 
tional history.  In  looking  through  the  records  of 
these  professions,  however,  one  is  likely  to  be  sur- 
prised to  find  that  the  law  has  apparently  proven 
the  least  attractive  to  the  descendants  of  the  Ply- 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  195 

mouth  magistrate.  Still  there  are  several  who  have 
attained  eminence  in  this  field.  Perhaps  the  earli- 
est to  take  up  the  ancestral  employment  was  Squire 
Daniel  Alden  (1691-1767)  of  Stafford,  Conn.,  who 
combined  the  duties  of  magistrate  and  farmer.  Cy- 
rus Alden,  Esq.,  (1785-1855)  was  a  practising  law- 
yer in  Boston  in  the  early  years  of  the  century  and 
the  author  of  a  legal  text-book.  He  also  possessed 
a  lively  interest  in  family  history  and  made  one  of 
the  earliest  efforts  to  secure  a  general  reunion  of 
Pilgrim  John  Alden's  descendants.  Charles  Alden 
of  Ludlow,  Mass.,  (1803-1862)  served  eighteen 
years  as  justice  of  the  peace.  General  Alonzo 
Alden  was  a  practising  attorney  in  the  state  of  New 
York,  and  Judge  Geo.  C.  Alden,  who  died  in  Colo- 
rado in  1888,  was  another  civil  war  veteran  eminent 
in  this  profession. 

But  the  law  cannot  fairly  be  named  a  competitor 
with  medicine,  which  for  many  years  has  drawn  a 
goodly  number  of  Alden  descendants.  Dr.  Abiathar 
Alden  of  Scarborough,  Me.,  a  physician  and,  it  is 
said,  also  a  metaphysician,  enjoys  the  rather  unen- 
viable distinction  of  having  been  perhaps  the  only 
Alden  who  was  a  Tory  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  Dr.  Seth  Alden  (1749-1809)  of  Cald- 
well,  N.  Y.,  attended  in  the  family  of  Ethan  Allen. 


196  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Dr.  Howard  Alden  practised  in  Suffield,  Conn., 
where  in  1790  he  built  the  residence  now  known  as 
"  Aldenheim "  and  still  occupied  by  his  descend- 
ants. 

Dr.  Enoch  Alden  of  the  same  generation  (the 
sixth  from  John  of  Mayflower  fame)  was  a  surgeon 
of  uncommon  ability,  and  became  famous  by  reason 
of  the  successful  substitution  of  an  animal  bone  for 
a  diseased  human  bone.  Dr.  Ebenezer  Alden,  Sr., 
also  of  this  generation,  was  a  practitioner  and  med- 
ical instructor  of  prominence  at  Randolph,  Mass. 
His  brother,  Dr.  Isaac  Alden  of  Plainfield,  N.  H., 
was  one  of  his  pupils.  His  son,  Dr.  Ebenezer  Al- 
den, Jr.,  added  to  his  professional  abilities  scholarly 
tastes  and  that  lively  interest  in  genealogy  which 
prompted  the  publication  of  his  work  on  the  Alden 
family  in  1867  —  a  work  whose  value  is  ever  more 
and  more  appreciated  by  his  successors  in  the  field. 
He  was  also  a  writer  on  medical  topics.  Charles 
Henry  Alden  of  Philadelphia,  U.  S.  A.  medical 
staff,  was  a  contributor  to  the  literature  of  army 
medicine  and  practise.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the 
earlier  representatives  of  the  family  in  this  calling. 

Pedagogy  is  another  profession  which  has  called 
forth  its  full  quota  from  the  family,  though  in  the 
earlier  days  it  was  rather  a  secondary  than  a  pri- 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  197 

mary  profession,  the  teacher  usually  being  subordi- 
nate to  the  minister.  The  first  ecclesiastical  edu- 
cator in  the  family,  of  eminent  attainment  in  that 
work,  was  the  Rev.  Timothy  Alden,  D.  D.,  (1771- 
1839).  He  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College, 
where  he  attained  high  rank  as  a  student  of  Ori- 
ental languages.  During  a  life-time  of  unceasing 
and  varied  activity  he  founded  no  less  than  seven 
educational  institutions,  among  them  what  is  now 
Alleghany  College,  of  which  he  was  the  first  presi- 
dent. Rev.  Joseph  Alden,  D.  D.,  a  friend  of  the 
poet  Bryant,  was  professor  of  rhetoric  in  Williams 
College,  of  moral  philosophy  and  metaphysics  in 
Lafayette  College,  and  finally  was  president  of 
Jefferson  College  for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  a 
prolific  writer  on  many  subjects,  ranging  from 
"  Elements  of  Intellectual  Philosophy  "  and  "  Sci- 
ence of  Government "  to  works  of  fiction.  Rev. 
John  Alden  (1806-1894)  was  at  the  head  of  Franklin 
Academy  at  Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.,  for  a  number 
of  years. 

The  educational  work  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  Alden, 
Sr.,  has  already  been  referred  to.  Rev.  Charles 
Henry  Alden,  whose  connection  with  the  navy  has 
been  mentioned,  previous  to  that  time  taught  and 
preached  in  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  and  finally 


198  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

in  Philadelphia,  where  he  opened  a  high  school 
for  young  ladies.  Abner  Alden,  graduated  from 
Brown  University  in  1787,  was  a  teacher  and  pub- 
lished several  text-books  in  English  branches 
early  in  the  Nineteenth  century.  More  recently 
Raymond  McDonald  Alden,  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  has  published  in  the  same  line  "  The 
Art  of  Debate  "  and  a  study  of  "  The  Rise  of  For- 
mal Satire  in  England  Under  the  Classical  Influ- 
ence." At  the  present  day  there  are  several  other 
representatives  of  the  family  on  the  faculties  of 
our  colleges  and  universities. 

But  among  all  the  professions,  if  one  were  to  be 
chosen  as  most  characteristic  of  the  Aldens,  that 
one  could  only  be  the  ministry.  The  family's  con- 
tribution to  this  profession  has  been  continuous 
from  the  fourth  generation,  and  affords,  perhaps, 
the  best  examples  of  the  varied  and  aggressive  ac- 
tivities so  natural  to  the  race.  If  Jonathan  Al- 
den was  pre-eminently  the  father  of  soldiers,  his 
brother  Joseph  was  no  less  characteristically  an 
ancestor  of  ministers,  the  great  majority  of  the 
clergymen  of  the  family  springing  from  his  line. 
The  first  Alden  divine,  so  far  as  is  known  to  the 
writer,  was  Joseph's  grandson,  the  Rev.  Noah  Al- 
den (1725-1797)  whose  early  stand  for  religious 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  199 

freedom  has  already  been  mentioned.  He  began 
his  ministerial  career  as  a  Congregationalist,  but 
later  became  a  Baptist,  thus  serving  the  two 
churches  which  his  kinsmen  have  always  most 
favored.  Rev.  Timothy  Alden  of  Yarmouth, 
Mass.,  (1736-1828),  another  descendant  of  Joseph, 
served  nearly  sixty  years  as  pastor  of  one  people. 
The  educational  work  of  his  son,  Rev.  Timothy  Al- 
den, D.D.,  has  already  been  mentioned,  but  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  in  connection  with  this  work 
he  continuously  preached  and  even  found  time  for 
missionary  tours  among  the  Indians  of  western 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 

Rev.  Abishai  Alden  (1765-1833)  was  a  Congre- 
gationalist minister  in  Connecticut.  Rev.  Seth  Al- 
den (1790-1813)  died  in  a  pulpit  which  he  was  sup- 
plying at  Westborough,  Mass.  Rev.  John  Alden 
of  Ashfield,  Mass.,  (1761-1842)  was  a  Baptist  min- 
ister and  farmer  who  gained  a  reputation  for  ec- 
centricity because  of  his  unconventional  way  of 
proclaiming  the  word  of  the  Lord.  His  son,  Rev. 
John  Alden  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  was  a  teacher,  as 
noted  above,  for  many  years  active  in  the  ministry, 
and  finally  ten  years  agent  for  southern  New  Eng- 
land of  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 
Two  sons  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  Alden,  Jr.,  Ebenezer  and 


200  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Edmund  Kimball,  held  pastorates  in  the  Congre- 
gational Church  at  Marshfield,  Mass.,  and  South 
Boston,  respectively.  At  the  former  place  Rev. 
Ebenezer  preached  the  funeral  sermon  of  Daniel 
Webster. 

Rev.  Charles  Henry  Alden  and  Rev.  Joseph  Al- 
den,  D.D.,  who  have  already  been  mentioned,  were 
brothers,  and  descended  from  Joseph  Alden  of  the 
second  generation,  as  were  all  the  other  clergymen 
mentioned.  Rev.  Lucius  Alden  (1796-1884),  a 
graduate  of  Brown  and  Andover,  was  in  earlier 
years  a  missionary  in  the  American  West,  and 
later  pastor  of  prominent  New  England  churches. 
He  was  born  in  East  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  and  re- 
membered the  place  of  his  nativity  by  a  bequest 
of  one  hundred  acres  of  valuable  land,  and  the 
church  society  of  his  youth  by  a  legacy  of  forty 
acres  and  his  library.  Rev.  Marcus  Alden  Tolman, 
of  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  an  Episcopal  rector  of  scholarly 
and  antiquarian  tastes,  is  of  this  same  ancestry. 
Many  of  the  daughters  of  the  family  have  married 
ministers. 

It  is  related  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Winter,  who 
married  Abigail  Alden,  grand-daughter  of  David, 
that  he  brought  into  Maine  the  first  carriage  ever 
seen  in  that  state.  It  was  a  two-wheeled  chaise 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  201 

which  he  procured  for  his  wife  on  a  long  journey 
from  Maine  to  Connecticut.  Traveling  was  so 
difficult  that  two  negroes  were  employed  to  accom- 
pany them  with  shovels  and  axes  to  clear  the  road. 
But  upon  his  return,  the  minister's  parishioners  ob- 
jected to  such  worldly  vanity  on  their  pastor's  part, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  dispose  of  his  vehicle. 
That  was  in  1771.  Diaries  or  journals  of  those 
pastors  of  early  days  would  afford  interesting  read- 
ing to  their  posterity. 

If  Longfellow  exaggerated  the  Pilgrim  John's 
literary  bent,  as  some  suppose,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  a  predilection  for  literature  has  yet  been 
markedly  characteristic  of  later  members  of  the 
family,  indicating  some  hereditary  trend  in  that  di- 
rection. The  Aldens  have  always  been  prolific 
writers.  We  have  already  alluded  to  various  types 
of  professional  writings  —  military,  medical,  legal, 
pedagogic,  and  the  religious  literature  of  many  pub- 
lished sermons  and  addresses.  These  were  the 
natural  outcome  of  the  professions  which  their 
authors  followed. 

But  there  is  also  a  considerable  body  of  what  is 
called  pure  literature  by  Alden  descendants.  The 
names  of  the  poets,  Longfellow  and  Bryant,  who 
trace  their  descent  to  John  Alden  through  Eliza- 


202  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

beth  Pabodie  and  Anna  Alden  Snell,  daughter  of 
Zachariah  Alden,  respectively,  are  by  far  the  most 
famous.  Longfellow  may  fairly  be  named,  too, 
the  laureate  of  the  family.  Dr.  Joseph  Alden,  a 
friend  of  Bryant's,  and  editor  of  his  works,  pub- 
lished over  seventy  volumes  of  one  sort  and  an- 
other, among  them  several  works  of  fiction.  Wil- 
liam Livingstone  Alden,  his  son,  a  New  York 
journalist,  has  published  several  works,  for  the 
most  part  humorous.  Mrs.  Isabella  Alden, 
"Pansy,"  has  written  many  religious  sketches 
for  the  young.  Mrs.  Daniel  Lothrop,  "  Mar- 
garet Sidney,"  is  likewise  a  writer  for  the 
young.  Mrs.  Marian  Longfellow  O'Donoghue, 
niece  of  the  poet,  is  a  prominent  Washington  jour- 
nalist, and  writes,  mainly  in  patriotic  vein,  both 
prose  and  graceful  verse.  Cynthia  Alden  West- 
over  is  the  author  of  "  Manhattan,  Historic  and 
Artistic."  Mrs.  Jane  G.  Austin  has  written  a  num- 
ber of  entertaining  historical  novels,  dealing  with 
early  Plymouth,  among  them  "  Standish  of  Stand- 
ish  "  and  "  Betty  Alden."  Her  brother,  John  O. 
Goodwin,  is  the  author  of  the  most  authentic  his- 
tory yet  written  of  Plymouth,  "  The  Pilgrim  Repub- 
lic." Alden  Bradford  has  also  written  on  histori- 
cal topics.  Ezra  Judson  Alden  has  written  much 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  203 

on  religious  subjects.  The  historical  works  of  the 
Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  continuing  his  fam- 
ily's interest  in  the  life  of  the  nation,  have  given 
him  a  wide  and  enduring  reputation. 

In  speculative  lines  we  have  the  works  of  Henry 
Mills  Alden,  "God  in  His  World;  An  Interpreta- 
tion," and  "  A  Study  of  Death;  "  also,  "  A  Theory 
of  the  Structure  of  Matter,"  published  by  James  S. 
Alden  in  1896.  Nor  must  we  forget  the  work  of 
Joseph  Alden,  above  mentioned,  in  this  field.  But 
any  mention  of  the  literary  labors  and  interests  of 
the  Alden  descent  would  be  most  inadequate  if  it 
were  to  omit  those  genealogical  and  antiquarian 
productions,  the  outcome  of  an  honest  reverence 
for  their  Pilgrim  source,  which  have  served  to 
maintain  a  family  unity  and  enthusiasm  rare  indeed 
in  this  nation  of  scattering  kindreds.  Foremost 
among  these  is,  of  course,  Timothy  Alden's  unique 
"  Collection  of  American  Epitaphs  and  Inscrip- 
tions," a  rare  work  often  heretofore  alluded  to  in 
these  pages,  and  Dr.  Ebenezer  Alden's  "  Mem- 
orial." Another  work  which  has  attracted  wide- 
spread interest  is  Rev.  John  Alden's  "  Autobi- 
ography," written  in  his  eighty-third  year,  which 
contains  much  bearing  on  the  family  history. 

More  recently  Mrs.  Charles  L.  Alden  of  Troy, 


204  PILGRIM  ALDBN 

N.  Y.,  has  contributed  several  chapters  of  an  Al- 
den  "  Genealogy  "  to  the  New  England  Historical 
and  Genealogical  Register,  a  work  whose  import- 
ance can  be  only  measured  by  its  magnitude.  Fi- 
nally, before  dismissing,  in  this  partial  reference, 
the  Alden  contribution  to  our  national  literature, 
we  should  not  fail  to  recall  the  noteworthy  work 
of  the  publisher,  John  B.  Alden,  who  was  pioneer  in 
the  cheap  production  of  English  classics,  a  move- 
ment which  has  long  since  rendered  the  best  litera- 
ture in  the  language  available  to  all. 

To  catalogue  ever  so  briefly  the  business  call- 
ings and  successes  of  the  Alden  descent  were  a 
task  impossible.  They  have  made  their  way  into 
every  field  of  productive  activity  and  everywhere 
the  count  of  those  who  have  achieved  has  far  ex- 
ceeded count  of  the  failures. 

They  have  brought  to  their  work  Yankee  in- 
genuity and  Yankee  integrity  —  two  traits  that  are 
not  small  factors  in  our  nation's  greatness, —  and 
whether  that  work  has  been  on  the  farm  or  in  the 
shop  or  yet  in  the  centres  of  exchange,  they  have 
given  it  a  quality  and  high  standard  which  have 
brought  respect  to  the  name  and  reflected  honor 
upon  the  lineage.  Enterprise,  invention,  versatil- 
ity,—  these  are,  perhaps,  the  best  terms  in  which 


THE  MODERN  PRISCILLA, 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  205 

to  describe  the  genius  peculiar  to  the  family,  char- 
acteristic of  all  its  works.  It  is  needless  to  add 
that  these  are  also  the  terms  which  best  describe 
the  genius  of  the  American  people  as  a  whole,  that 
the  Aldens,  therefore,  are,  before  all  things  else, 
most  typically  Americans.  Surely  no  better  eulogy 
could  be  pronounced  upon  them. 

But  before  we  close  we  must  say  a  word  for  the 
daughters  of  Priscilla.  The  part  they  play  in  the 
upbuilding,  even  though  it  is  mainly  a  silent  part, 
little  known  to  the  world,  is  no  less  important  and 
lasting  than  the  achievements  of  their  brothers  and 
sons.  Without  their  gentler  guidance  and,  we  may 
believe,  wise  insight  and  courage,  such  as  made 
their  ancestress  famous,  there  would  be  far  less  in 
the  family  history  to  which  the  children  of  today 
look  back  with  pride. 

Here  we  cannot  even  give  their  number  or  their 
names  —  good,  old-fashioned  names  with  a  plenti- 
ful sprinkling  of  Priscilla's,  —  much  less  any  ac- 
count of  their  doings.  But  a  nephew  of  one  of 
them,  the  late  Mr.  Gilbert  Alden  Tolman  of  Ran- 
dolph, Mass.,  has  published  a  brief  account  of 
her  home  domain  —  as  it  was  in  the  early  years  of 
the  century  that  is  recently  passed  —  and  surely  in 
closing  this  volume  of  Alden  memories  and  tradi- 


206  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

tions,  we  cannot  do  better  than  here  transcribe 
some  portion  of  his  account  of  a  typical  home  and 
typical  matron  of  the  family  of  a  generation  now 
gone  by. 

The  house  where  Sarah  Alden  Tolman  —  Mr. 
Tolman's  "Aunt  Sally  "  —  lived  in  those  years  still 
stands  in  the  town  of  Holbrook,  Mass.,  (formerly 
a  part  of  Randolph). 

Mr.  Tolman  writes  reminiscently :  "  Of  its  many 
pleasant  rooms  the  kitchen  attracted  us  most,  be- 
cause the  aroma  from  Aunt  Sally's  cooking  dainties 
appealed  more  strongly  to  our  youthful  sensibili- 
ties. .  .  .  This  kitchen  was  just  twenty  feet 
square  and  proportionately  high;  to  us,  then, 
it  seemed  a  mile.  The  knots  in  the  unpainted 
floor  slightly  projected;  the  solid  oak  outside  door 
opening  directly  into  the  kitchen  was  exactly  seven 
feet  high  by  three  and  one-half  feet  wide  (some  of 
the  folks  were  tall  and  some  broad),  and  the  latch- 
string  was  always  out;  the  fireplace  was  five  feet 
long,  four  feet  high  and  almost  two  feet  deep,  and 
the  crane  was  just  four  feet  long,  with  hooks  and 
tfamels  to  fit  every  pot  and  kettle;  the  mantel  was 
six  feet  long  by  four  inches  wide,  and  held  the 
tinder  box,  flint  and  steel  —  lucifer  matches  were 
not  invented  yet,  —  and  two  brass  candle-sticks. 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  207 

Higher  up  still  hung  crook-necked  squashes 
marked,  '  save  the  seeds  ',  and  ears  of  corn  for  next 
year's  planting. 

"  The  huge  brick  oven  seemed  equal  to  the  State 
House  dome,  and  when  on  fire  quite  as  brilliant. 
The  bread  peel,  with  a  hole  cut  in  the  handle,  hung 
on  a  nail  in  the  chimney  corner.  In  the  other  corner 
was  the  old  Farmer's  Almanac  which  Aunt  Sally 
consulted  to  regulate  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and 
forecast  the  weather,  and  a  file  of  which  she  pre- 
served, reaching  far  back  into  the  early  years  of 
the  century.  .  .  .  The  exact  size  of  the  oven 
I  have  lost,  but  I  can  give  an  approximate  idea. 
The  day  before  each  Thanksgiving  it  baked  at  once 
fifty  mince  pies,  with  a  huge  plum  pudding  in  the 
middle  (not  of  the  pies  but  of  the  oven),  and  then 
Aunt  Sally  reached  the  long-handled  peel  beyond 
the  sight  of  mortal,  and  last,  though  not  least, 
brought  forth  a  generous  pot  of  pork  and  beans, 
the  crisp  pork,  cut  and  checked  and  scored,  burst- 
ing through  the  confines  of  the  succulent  'bean,  all 
baked  and  all  browned,  just  '  fit  for  a  king.'  .  .  . 
There  was  also  room  in  the  oven  for  the  turkey; 
but,  no,  Aunt  Sally  didn't  bake  her  turkeys.  A  tin 
kitchen  was  set  before  the  open  fire,  the  turkey  im- 
paled on  a  spindle  was  placed  therein,  and  the  cat 


208  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

and  dog  took  turns  at  turning  the  spit  (the  spit  was 
a  spindle  which  was  turned  by  a  projecting  crank). 
.  .  .  The  hearth  was  laid  in  four  granite  slabs, 
each  about  three  feet  square,  and  on  them  we 
cracked  both  fingers  and  shag-barks.  The  two  fire- 
dogs  were  pig  iron,  —  money  would  not  buy  them 
today.  Cooking  stoves  had  not  arrived,  and 
stones  from  the  wall  and  coal  from  the  mine  were 
considered  equally  useless  for  cooking  or  heating 
purposes ;  four  foot  logs  were  used  instead.  .  .  . 
"  But  the  kitchen  is  incomplete  without  at  least 
a  limited  description  of  Aunt  Sally  herself,  the  pre- 
siding genius  there.  Aunt  Sally  was  a  sweet 
singer,  and,  though  a  devout  woman,  we  really 
think  put  singing  paramount  to  praying.  It  was 
an  Alden  inheritance,  her  noted  ancestor,  John, 
who  with  Governor  Bradford  landed  from  the  May- 
flower on  Plymouth  Rock  in  1620,  for  years  lead 
the  Congregational  singing  there,  and  Aunt  Sally 
long  sang  in  a  neighboring  church  choir  many 
years  after.  .  .  .  Aunt  Sally  was  proud,  very 
proud,  as  all  the  Aldens  were  and  are,  but  she  had 
no  enemies.  She  would  sit  and  sing  and  spin  all 
day  long,  but  I  never  saw  the  old  spinning  wheel 
in  the  kitchen,  as  '  the  fuzz  would  get  into  the  food.' 
She  kept  sheep,  she  spun  yarn,  she  knitted  the 


ALDENS  OF  LATER  DAYS  209 

family  stockings,  and  through  it  all  she  sang.  We 
don't  say  that  her  music  was  always  harmonious, 
but  the  songs  to  us  were  always  sweet." 

Surely  it  is  like  Aunt  Sally,  tender,  watchful,  in- 
dustrious, warding  her  household  with  motherly 
care  and  dignity,  the  song  on  her  lips  unstilled, 
and  none  the  less  sweet  for  the  passing  of  time,  that 
we  must  picture  Priscilla,  also,  in  her  later, 
matronly  years.  And  surely  the  picture  is  no  less 
fair  nor  any  less  an  inspiration  to  her  daughters' 
daughters  than  that  other  earlier  scene  in  which  the 
poet  has  portrayed  her  singing  as  she  spun.  Let 
us  therefore  close  our  tale  of  memories  with  this 
image  of  sweet  domesticity — symbolic  of  the 
force  that  has  wrought  whatever  is  best  in  the  kin- 
dred of  Alden. 


Since  the  pen  was  laid  aside  from  the  foregoing 
writings,  an  event  of  warm  interest  to  all  of  Al- 
den descent  has  taken  place.  On  August  twenty- 
eight,  1902,  several  hundred  of  the  kindred  descend- 
ants met  at  the  historic  Duxbury  homestead,  and 
with  ceremony  and  fellowship,  organized  a  perma- 
nent society  of  "  The  Alden  Kindred  of  America." 


210  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

The  year  before,  upon  the  initiative  of  Miss  A.  Ella 
Alden,  a  picnic  meeting  of  Alden  descendants  was 
held  at  Avon,  Mass.,  and  it  was  attended  with 
such  spirit  and  enthusiasm  that  then  and  there  ar- 
rangements were  made  for  the  greater  coming  to- 
gether at  Duxbury.  Mr.  A.  E.  Alden  presiding, 
Mr.  George  W.  Alden  of  Brockton,  Mass.,  was 
made  president,  and  with  the  aid  of  Messrs.  Lewis 
Alden,  of  Holbrook,  John  W.  Alden,  of  Duxbury, 
Charles  L.  Alden,  of  Hyde  Park  and  other  promi- 
nently interested,  the  historic  gathering  was  pre- 
pared for.  Meantime,  it  is  interesting  to  note  an 
"Alden  Descendants'  Society  "  was  organized  at 
Binghampton,  New  York,  without  knowledge  of 
the  New  England  movement,  showing  that  the 
family  spirit  was  widely  aroused  and  the  time  ripe 
for  a  lasting  organization. 

The  assigned  day  was  one  of  unusual  beauty, 
with  blue,  sunny  sky,  and  an  atmosphere  lam- 
bently  premonitions  of  Indian  summer.  A  large 
tent  near  the  old  house  was  the  place  of  gath- 
ering, and  here  the  ceremonies  of  the  day  were 
held.  President  George  W.  Alden,  occupying 
a  chair  once  the  property  of  Elder  Brewster,  called 
the  meeting  to  order.  Short  addresses  and  sing- 
ing were  followed  by  the  adoption  of  constitution 


311 


aad  by-laws  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Augustus  E.  Alden 
of  Boston,  who  also  christened  the  new  society. 
Officers  were  elected  for  the  year,  and  Rev.  Marcus 
Alden  Tolman,  orator  of  the  day,  gratified  the  ears 
of  the  gathered  kindred  with  an  address,  whose  elo- 
quent earnestness  was  dashed  with  more  than  one 
touch  of  the  sly  wit  and  graceful  humor  befitting  a 
son  of  Priscilla.  Perhaps  with  the  fine  figure 
which  formed  the  orator's  peroration,  we  may  best 
engross  the  memory  of  this  most  significant  day, 
for  in  it  he  draws  the  larger  meaning  which  should 
underlie  the  pride  of  all  who  trace  their  descent, 
as  we  fondly  say,  from  Plymouth  Rock. 

"  One  bright  day  in  the  month  of  August  I 
stood  upon  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  and  tried  to  trace  the  outline  of  an 
Alpine  range,  sixty-five  miles  distant.  The  highest 
peak  towered  fifteen  thousand  feet  above  its  base, 
yet,  as  it  was  covered  with  ice  and  snow,  under  the 
glare  of  the  mid-day  sun,  it  could  not  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  clouds  by  which  it  was  capped. 
But,  as  the  day  drew  to  a  close,  and  the  sun  sank 
farther  and  farther  in  the  West,  the  outline  of  the 
distant  range  appeared  with  greater  and  greater 
distinctness,  until  at  last  the  rugged  rocks  and 
crags  were  lost  in  the  twilight,  while  the  snowy 


212  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

crests  of  the  mountains  threw  'back  the  sun's  part- 
ing rays  and  stood  forth  in  all  their  majestic 
grandeur,  like  piles  of  burnished  silver.  It  was  a 
sight  never  to  be  forgotten. 

"  So,  like  the  distant  Alpine  range,  stand  the 
Pilgrims  of  1620.  Time  has  softened  their  asperi- 
ties. Their  rugged  features  are  lost  in  the  distance. 
By  the  alchemy  of  the  ages  the  rock  has  turned 
to  silver.  We  view  them  through  the  atmosphere 
of  their  influence  upon  America  and  American  in- 
stitutions. From  their  towering  moral  heights, 
'  pure  as  ice,  chaste  as  snow,'  there  is  thrown  back 
a  reflection  of  that  Sun  which  guided  the  Pilgrims' 
wandering  feet  to  these  western  shores;  that  Sun 
in  whose  light  those  Pilgrims  ever  basked;  that 
Sun  which  never  goes  down,  but  whose  rays  shine 
brighter  and  brighter  '  unto  the  perfect  day.'  " 


CHAPTER     XIII. 


THE    ALDEN    AND    MOLINES     ARMS. 

HE  use  of  armorial  bearings  to  dis- 
tinguish family  and  rank  arose  some 
time  during  the  Twelfth  century. 
Previous  to  that  time  it  had  been  cus- 
tomary for  knights  to  adorn  their 
shields  with  symbols  and  designs  com- 
memorating their  military  achieve- 
ments, much  in  the  mode  and  spirit 
of  the  American  Indian  who  paints  his 
deeds  upon  his  ceremonial  shirt  of  deer-skin.  But 
with  the  development  of  defensive  armor,  and  espe- 
cially with  the  adoption  of  the  closed  helmet,  which 
concealed  the  face  of  the  wearer,  it  became  neces- 
sary that  war-leaders  should  assume  some  badge  or 
token  by  means  of  which  their  followers  could  dis- 
tinguish them  in  the  press  of  battle. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  fixed  and  individual  arms 
were  widely  used  for  this  purpose,  blazoned  on 
shield  or  broidered  on  surcoat,  and  thence,  eventu- 
ally, stamped  upon  all  the  properties  of  their 
knightly  bearer.  They  became  hereditary,  too,  and 
even  transferable  like  other  property,  so  that  in 
time  many  men  might  bear  the  same  coat.  From 


214  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

this  arose  confusion,  for  the  straightening  of  which 
the  College  of  Heraldry  was  evolved. 

The  sovereign  assumed  the  sole  right  of  granting 
the  use  of  armorial  bearings,  which  in  each  case 
were  prepared  by  the  official  Heralds  according  to 
a  strict  etiquette  as  to  the  rank  of  the  bearer  and 
the  design  to  which  his  rank  entitled  him.  The 
granting  of  a  coat  of  arms  was  then  esteemed  a 
patent  of  "  nobility,"  and  is  so  still  on  the  continent, 
though  in  England  the  term  "  noble  "  has  come  to 
be  restricted  to  members  of  the  peerage. 

In  Europe  the  title  to  armorial  bearings  is  gov- 
erned by  two  main  tenets  of  Heraldric  law:  (i) 
The  holder  must  be  a  member  of  the  family  to 
whom  the  coat  was  granted,  and  no  two  families 
may  hold  the  same  coat;  and  (2)  he  must  be  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  person  to  whom  the  coat 
was  given.  Furthermore  the  cadets  of  any  house 
are  only  entitled  to  the  parent  arms  with  some 
modification  indicative  of  their  cadency,  and  the 
daughters  have  no  title  to  arms  except  they  be  heir- 
esses. Neither  can  a  mother  transmit  to  her  chil- 
dren a  right  to  bearings  which  are  hers  except  as 
quartered  on  the  father's  shield. 

In  America  only  the  national  and  state  arms 
have  official  sanction  or  obtain  legal  recognition. 


THE  ALDEN  AND  MOLINES  ARMS  215 

The  use  of  family  crests  and  coats  is  an  arbitrary 
assumption  on  the  part  of  individuals  which  only 
in  the  rarest  cases  —  one  in  a  thousand  —  would 
be  recognized  as  legitimate  by  European  Heralds. 
At  the  same  time  the  usage  as  established  in  this 
country  is  not  only  legitimate  but  praiseworthy; 
for  it  aims  at  nothing  more  than  family  demarca- 
tion and  the  sustaining  of  ancient  traditions. 

Where  descent  can  be  traced  with  probability 
(few,  indeed,  are  the  certain  genealogies)  to  some 
mediaeval  family  of  note  the  best  possible  means 
of  distinguishing  Americans  sprung  from  a  com- 
mon stock  is  their  common  adoption  of  the  char- 
acteristic arms  of  that  family.  Surnames  are  no 
longer  adequate  marks  of  family  distinction.  Not 
only  is  the  same  name  frequently  borne  by  families 
totally  unrelated,  yet  of  common  nationality,  but 
the  cosmopolitan  influx  of  Europeans  into  the 
United  States  has  given  rise  to  a  vast  number  of 
families  who  bear  old  English  surnames,  either  ar- 
bitrarily assumed  or  formed  by  the  Anglicization  of 
foreign  names.  It  is  well,  therefore,  for  those  who 
wish  to  preserve  family  or  national  tradition  to 
assume  some  sign  which  will  indicate  the  stock 
from  whence  they  are  sprung. 

In   selecting  a  coat  of  arms  for  this  purpose, 


ai6  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

either  some  definite  coat  granted  to  a  known  fore- 
bear may  foe  taken,  or  a  coat  may  be  made  up  from 
the  essential  characteristics  common  to  the  various 
coats  found  in  the  family.  The  latter  method  is 
likely  to  produce  the  more  artistic  result  and  serves 
the  purpose  equally  well.  But  it  should  always 
be  borne  in  mind  that  from  the  European  point  of 
view  the  American  usage  is  pure  assumption. 

The  armorial  bearings  which  the  descendants  of 
the  Pilgrim  John  Alden  have  most  widely  used  are 
the  arms  of  the  Aldens  of  Hertford  and  Middlesex, 
whence  it  seems  most  probable  that  he  sprung.  The 
oldest  coat  in  this  family  of  which  we  have  record 
was  granted  to  John  Alden  of  the  Middle  Temple 
in  1607.  This  coat  is  described  with  slight  differ- 
ences in  the  various  encyclopedias  of  heraldry.  The 
oldest  description  that  we  have  is  in  Guillim's 
"  Display  of  Heraldry,"  published  in  1610.  It  runs 
as  follows: 

"  He  beareth  Gules,  three  Crescents  within  a 
Bordure  engrail'd  Ermine  by  the  name  of  Alden. 
This  Coat  was  assign'd  (September  8,  1607.)  by 
William  Cambden,  Clarencieux,  to  John  Alden  of 
the  Middle  Temple." 

Guillim  does  not  describe  the  crest  accompany- 
ing this  shield,  but  it  is  given  in  Berry's  "  Ency- 


THE  ALDEN  AND  MOLINES  ARMS  217 

clopaedia  of  Heraldry  "  together  with  a  slightly 
altered  description  of  the  shield: 

"  Alden  (Hertf.  and  of  the  Temple,  London)  gu.  a 
bezant  between  three  crescents,  within  a  'bordure, 
engr.  erm.  Crest:  out  of  a  ducal  coronet  per  pale 
gu.  and  sa.  a  demi-lion  or.  (Granted  1607.)" 

Berry  also  describes  three  other  Alden  coats, 
two  of  which  manifestly  belong  in  this  same  family 
(one  is  identical  with  Guillim's  description).  The 
third  is  described:  "Or,  a  bat's  wing  gu.  sur- 
mounted of  another  az.  Crest:  out  of  a  coronet 
arg.  two  wings  as  in  the  coat."  A  third  variation 
upon  the  crescent  blazoned  coat  is  given  by  Ed- 
monson :  "  Gu.  a  mullet  arg.  between  three  cres- 
cents erm.  within  bordure  engr.  of  the  second." 
In  "  Fairbank's  Crests"  three  are  given  for  Aldens: 
"  Out  of  a  ducal  coronet  or,  a  demi-lion  gu."  "  Out 
of  a  ducal  coronet  per  pale  gu.  and  sa.,  a  demi- 
lion  rampant  or."  "  Out  of  a  coronet  arg.,  a  bat's 
wing  gu.,  surmounted  of  another  arg." 

Doubtless  many  of  these  variations  are  modified 
forms  of  the  original,  borne  by  cadets  in  the  family, 
but  even  with  identical  coats  the  descriptions  vary, 
and  it  will  be  seen  how  difficult  it  is  to  reconstruct 
the  original  with  historical  accuracy.  The  chief 


2i«  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

characteristics,  however,  both  of  crest  and  coat  are 
easily  recognizable. 

Ito  Burke's  "  General  Armory  "  are  given  more 
than  twenty-five  coats  of  arms  as  pertaining  to 
families  of  the  name  of  Molyneux,  Molineux,  Mo- 
lines,  Molynes,  Mullines,  Mullins.  All  of  these 
trace  their  descent  to  Norman  and  French  families, 
and  most  of  them  to  the  Molyneux,  or  Molineaux, 
as  it  is  sometimes  better  spelled,  who  left  the 
fortress  of  Molineaux-sur-Seine  to  follow  William 
the  Conqueror  to  England. 

The  family  was  represented  as  early  as  1423  by  a 
Baron  Molynes  who  bore  arms  described  (Burke): 
"  Paly  wavy  of  six  or  and  gu."  In  Rietstap's  "Ar- 
morial General  "  is  described  the  almost  identical 
coat  of  the  Norman  family  of  Moulins :  "  Pale- 
onde  d'or  et  de  gueules,"  and  it  can  hardly  be  that 
this  dual  similarity  of  name  and  bearings  is  mere 
coincidence.  The  most  distinguished  English 
branch  are  the  Molineux  of  Lancaster  from  which 
are  descended  the  Earls  of  Sefton.  Guillim  gives 
an  interesting  paragraph  upon  the  arms  of  Richard 
de  Molineux,  temp.  Richard  II,  which  shows  a  truly 
scholastic  appreciation  of  the  possibilities  of  trifles. 
But  in  those  days  Heraldry  was  a  fine  art  and  a 
field  of  much  astute  learning1: 


219 


"  The  Field  is  Azure,  a  Cross  moline  pierced  Loz- 
engways  Or.    This  is  the  second  Form  of  Pierc- 
ing before-mentioned,  and  the  Coat  was  born  by 
Richard  de  Molineux  of  Lancaster,  that  lived  in 
the  Reign  of  King  Richard  the  Second.     Concern- 
ing this  Cross  moline  (saith  Leigh)  that  if  it  stood 
Saltire-ways,   then   should  you   call   it  Fenre   de 
Molin,  that  is  to  say,  a  Mill  rind,  or  the  Ink  of  a 
Mill:    Which  to  me,  seemeth  a  very  paradox  and* 
Transposition  (being  a  Thing  merely  accidental) 
should   give  a  new  Denomination   to  the  Thing 
Transposed,  and,  consequently,  alter  the  Essence 
thereof:    Quia  novum  nomen  dat  novum  esse  rei; 
where  are  new  Names,  new  Things  are  supposed  to 
be.     It  were  a  Thing  worthy  of  Admiration,  that 
Accidents  should  have  such  Power  in  them:     For 
Aristotle,  Physicorum  I.  saith,  Accidentia  possunt 
Miraculose,  &  non  alias  mutare  subjectum;  Acci- 
dents change  not  their  Subject  but  by  Miracle.  Ad- 
dition, doubtless,  and  Subtraction,  are  of  greater 
Force  than  Transmutation  or  Location;  yet  there 
is  no  such  Power  in  them  as  that  they  can  alter  the 
Essence  of  any  Thing:     Quia  augmentum  vel  di- 
minutio  (saith  Chassanaeus)  circa  accidentia  con- 

tractuum,  non  reponunt  contractum  in  diverso  esse, 
•For  "  and  "  we  should  probably  read  "  that." 


220  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

neque  per  ea  intelligitur  ab  eo  in  substantialibus  re- 
cessus :  The  Adding  or  Diminishing  of  Accidents, 
makes  not  the  Thing  lose  the  Nature  of  his  Be- 
ing." 

The  crest  to  this  coat  of  Richard  de  Molineux  is 
given  by  Burke:  "  Out  of  a  chapeau  gules  turned 
up  ermine  a  peacock's  tail  proper,"  (i.  e.,  natural 
colors).  The  same  authority  describes  the  arms 
of  the  Earls  of  Sefton,  who  are  descended  from 
this  Richard,  as  follows:  "Azure,  a  cross  moline 
or.  Crest:  A  chapeau  gules  turned  up  ermine 
adorned  with  a  plume  of  peacock  feathers  proper. 
Supporters:  Two  lions  azure.  Motto:  Vivere 
sat  vincere."  It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  only  an 
elaborated  form  of  the  earlier  coat ;  and  with  modi- 
fications, but  generally  characterized  by  the  cross 
moline  upon  an  azure  field,  it  is  borne  by  many, 
of  the  names  Molyneux  and  Molines. 

The  choice  of  a  coat  of  arms  for  its  historical  in- 
terest and  associations  is  well  and  good,  but  as  a 
family  badge  —  a  badge  which  will  distinguish  a 
particular  stock  from  others  of  the  name,  or  dis- 
criminate various  persons  as  of  one  ancestry  —  the 
right  to  the  badge  must  be  unique  and  unmistake- 
able.  This  cannot  be  claimed  for  the  descendants 
of  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  with  respect  to  either 


National  Monument  to  the  Forefathers,  Plymouth. 


THE  ALDEN  AND  MOLINES  ARMS  »ai 

the  Alden  or  the  Molineux  arms,  even  in  this 
country.  There  are  other  families  of  Alden  now 
in  the  country  and  many  of  Molineux  and  Mullins. 

What  the  American  Aldens  are  chiefly  anxious  to 
preserve  is  the  integrity  of  the  family  of  the  Pilgrim 
John.  Holding  in  mind  that  the  origin  of  armorial 
bearings  was  in  the  symbolic  picturing  of  knightly 
achievements,  the  deeds  which  gave  their  doer* 
fame,  would  it  not  be  well  for  the  children  of  the 
most  famous  of  American  lovers  to  adopt  insignia 
commemorating  the  story?  Such  insignia  would 
be  uniquely  theirs,  and  it  would  date  to  a  year 
barely  a  dozen  twelve  months  after  the  first  Alden 
coat  of  arms  of  which  we  have  record  was  granted, 
and  a  hundred  years  before  the  first  Earl  of  Sef- 
ton.  In  the  language  of  Heraldry  such  a  coat 
might  be  described: 

They  bear  them  Azure,  a  spinning-wheel  Or  (the 
Molines'  colors).  And  for  crest,  a  great  Pilgrim 
hat,  Sable  with  a  buckle  Or,  plain  as  is  most  ap- 
propriate for  him  who  loved  best  to  be  known  as 
"  plain  John  Alden,"  and  hovering  shelteringly 
over  the  symbol  of  the  gentle  Priscilla.  And  for 
motto,  they  bear  (here  is  no  question):  "Prithee, 
why  don't  you  speak  for  yourself,  John?" 


APPENDIX. 


JOHN  ALDEN,  Anagram,  END  AL  ON  HI. 

(From  Governor  Bradford's  Journal.) 
The  names  of  those  which  came  over  first,  in  ye  year 
1620,  and  were  by  the  blessing  of  God  the  first  be- 
glners  and  (in  a  sort)  the  foundation  of  all  the  Plan- 
tations and  Colonies  in  New-England;  and  their 
families. 

Mr.  John  Carver;  Katherine,  his  wife;   Desire 
8.     Minter;  &  2.  man-servants,  John  Howland,  Roger 
Wilder;  William  Latham,  a  boy;  &  a  maid  servant, 
&  a  child  yt  was  put  to  him,  called  Jasper  More. 

Mr.  William  Brewster;  Mary,  his  wife;  with  2. 
sons,  whose  names  were  Love  &  Wrasling;  and  a 
6.    boy  was  put  to  him  called  Richard  More;  and  an- 
other of  his  brothers.    The  rest  of  his  children  were 
left  behind,  &  came  over  afterwards. 

Mr.  Edward  Winslow;  Elizabeth,  his  wife;  &  2. 
5.    men  servants,  caled  Georg  Sowle  and  Elias  Story; 
also  a  litle  girle  was  put  to  him,  caled  Ellen,  the 
sister  of  Richard  More. 

William  Bradford,  and  Dorothy,  his  wife;  hav- 
2.    but  one  child,  a  sone,  left  behind,  who  came  after- 
ward. 


APPENDIX  223 

Mr.  Isaack  Allerton,  and  Mary,  his  wife;  with  3. 
6.    children,   Bartholmew,  Remember,  &  Mary;  and  a 
servant  boy,  John  Hooke. 

Mr.  Samuell  Fuller,  and  a  servant,  caled  Wll- 
2.    Ham  Butten.    His  wife  was  behind,  &  a  child,  which 

came  afterwards. 

2.          John  Crakston,  and  his  sone.  John  Crakston. 
2.    Captin  Myles  Standish,  and  Rose,  his  wife. 

Mr.  Christopher  Martin,  and  his  wife,  and   2. 

4.  servants,  Salamon  Prower  and  John  Langemore. 

Mr.  William  Mullines,  and  his  wife,  and  2.  chil- 

5.  dren,  Joseph  &  Priscila;  and  a  servant,  Robert  Car- 
ter. 

Mr.  William  White,  and  Susana,  his  wife,  and 

6.  one  sone,  caled  Resolved,  and  one  borne  a  ship-bord, 
caled  Peregriene;    &  2.  servants,    named    William 
Holbeck  &  Edward  Thomson. 

Mr.  Steven  Hopkins,  &  Elizabeth,  his  wife,  and 
2.  children,  caled  Giles,  and  Constanta,  doughter, 
8.  both  by  a  former  wife;  and  2.  more  by  this  wife, 
caled  Damaris  &  Oceanus;  the  last  was  borne  at  sea; 
and  2.  servants,  called  Edward  Doty  and  Edward 
Litster. 

Mr.  Richard  Warren;  but  his  wife  and  children 

1.    were  lefte  behind,  and  came  afterwards. 


824  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

John  Billinton,  and  Elen,  his  wife;  and  2.  sones. 
4.  John  &  Francis. 

Edward  Tillie,  and  Ann,  his  wife;  and  2.  chil- 
4.  dren  that  were  their  cossens,  Henery  Samson  and 
Humillity  Coper. 

John  Tillie,  and  his  wife;  and  Eelizabeth,  their 
3.  doughter. 

Francis  Cooke,  and  his  sone  John.  But  his  wife 
2.  &  other  children  came  afterwards. 

Thomas   Rogers,   and    Joseph,    his    sone.     His 

2.  other  children  came  afterwards. 

3.  Thomas  Tinker,  and  his  wife,  and  a  gone. 

2.  John  Rigdale,  and  Alice,  his  wife. 

James  Chilton,  and  his  wife,  and  Mary,  their 

3.  doghter.     They    had    an    other  doughter,    yt    was 
maried,  came  afterward. 

Edward  Fuller,  and  his  wife,  and  Samuell.  their 
3.  sonne. 

John  Turner,  and  2.  sones.  He  had  a  doughter 
3.  came  some  years  after  to  Salem,  wher  she  is  now 
living. 

Francis  Eaton,  and  Sarah,  his  wife,  and  Sam- 
3.  uell,  their  sone,  a  yong  child. 

Moyses  Fletcher,  John  Goodman,  Thomas  Wil- 
10.  liams,  Digerie  Preist,  Edmond  Margeson,  Peter 


APPENDIX  225 

Browne,  Richard  Britterige,   Richard  Clarke,  Rich- 
ard Gardenar,  Gilbart  Winslow. 

John  Alden  was  hired  for  a  cooper,  at  South- 

1.  Hampton,  wher  the  ship  victuled;  and  being  a  hop- 
full  yong  man,  was  much  desired,  but  left  to  his 
owne  liking  to  go  or  stay  when  he  came  here;  but 
he  stayed,  and  maryed  here. 

John  Allerton  and  Thomas  Enlish  were  both 
hired,  the  later  to  goe  mr.  of  a  shalop  here,  and  ye 

2.  other  was  reputed  as  one  of  ye  company,  but  was  to 
go  back  (being  a  seaman)  for  the  help  of  others  be- 
hind.    But  they  both  dyed  here,  before  the  snipe 
returned. 

There  were  allso  other  2.  seamen  hired  to  stay  a 
2.  year  here  in  the  country,  William  Trevore,  and  one 
Ely.  But  when  theif  time  was  out,  they  both  re- 
turned. 

These,  bening  aboute  a  hundred  sowls,  came 
over  in  this  first  ship;  and  began  this  worke,  which 
God  of  his  goodnes  hath  hithertoo  blesed;  let  his 
holy  name  have  ye  praise. 


And  seeing  it  hath  pleased  him  to  give  me  to  see  30. 
years  compleated  since  these  beginings;  and  that 
the  great  works  of  his  providence  are  to  be  ob- 
served, I  have  thought  it  not  unworthy  my  paineg 


226  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

to  take  a  veiw  of  the  decreasings  &  increasings  of 
these  persons,  and  such  changs  as  hath  pased  over 
them  &  theirs,  in  this  thirty  years.  It  may  be  of 
some  use  to  such  as  come  after;  but,  however,  I 
shall  rest  in  my  owne  benefite. 

I  will  therfore  take  them  in  order  as  they  lye. 

Mr.  Carver  and  his  wife  dyed  the  first  year;  he  in 
ye  spring,  she  in  ye  somer;  also,  his  man  Roger  and 
ye  litle  boy  Jasper  dyed  before  either  of  them,  of  y* 
commone  infection.  Desire  Minter  returned  to  her 
freinds,  &  proved  not  very  well,  and  dyed  in  Eng- 
land. His  servant  boy  Latham,  after  more  than  20. 
years  stay  in  the  country,  went  into  England,  and 
from  thence  to  the  Bahamy  Hands  in  ye  West  In- 
dies, and  ther,  with  some  others,  was  starved  for 
want  of  food.  His  maid  servant  maried,  &  dyed  a 
year  or  tow  after,  here  in  this  place. 

His  servant,  John  Rowland,  maried  the  doughter 
of  John  Tillie,  Elizabeth,  and  they  are  both  now 
15.  living;  and  have  10.  children,  now  all  living; 
and  their  eldest  daughter  hath  4.  children. 
And  ther  2.  daughter,  1.  all  living;  and  other  of 
their  children  mariagable.  So  15.  are  come  of  them. 

Mr.  Brewster  lived  to  a  very  old  age;  about  80. 
years  he  was  when  he  dyed,  having  lived  some  23. 
or  24.  years  here  in  ye  countrie;  &  though  his  wife 


APPENDIX  227 

dyed  long  before,  yet    she    dyed    aged.     His  sone 

4.  Wrastle  dyed  a  yonge  man  unmaried;  his  sone  Love 
lived  till  this  year  1650,  and  dyed,  &  left  4.  children, 
now  living.  His  doughters  which  came  over  after 
him  are  dead,  but  have  left  sundry  children  alive; 
his  eldest  sone  is  still  liveing,  and  hath  9.  or  10. 

2.    children;  one  marled,  who  hath  a  child  or  2. 

Richard  More  his  brother  dyed  the  first  winter; 

4.  but  he  is  marled,  and  hath  4.  or  5.  children,  all 
living. 

Mr.  Ed:  Winslow  his  wife  dyed  the  first  winter; 

2.  and  he  marled  with  the  widow  of  Mr.  White,  and 
hath  2.  children  living  by  her  mariagable,  besids 
sundry  that  are  dead. 

One  of  his  servants  dyed,  as  also  the  litle  girle, 

8.  soone  after  the  ships  arivall.  But  his  man,  Georg 
Sowle,  is  still  living,  and  hath  8.  childre. 

William  Bradford  his  wife  dyed  soone  after  their 

4.  arivall;  and  he  maried  againe;  and  hath  4.  children, 
3.  wherof  are  maried. 

Mr.  Allerton  his  wife  dyed  with  the  first,  and 
his  servant,  John  Hooke.  His  sone  Bartle  is  mar- 
ied in  England,  but  I  know  not  how  many  children 
he  hath.  His  doughter  Remember  is  maried  at 
Salem,  &  hath  3.  or  4.  children  living.  And  his 

8.    doughter  Mary  is  maried  here,  &  hath  4.  children. 


,28  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

Him  selfe  marled  againe  with  ye  doughter  of  Mr. 
Brewster,  &  hath  one  sone  living  by  her,  but  she 
is  long  since  dead.  And  he  is  marled  againe,  and 
hath  left  this  place  long  agoe.  So  I  account  his  in- 
crease to  be  8-  besids  his  sons  in  England. 

Mr.  Fuller  his  servant  dyed  at  sea;  and  after  his 
2.    wife  came  over,  he  had  tow  children  by  her,  which 
are  living  and  growne  up  to  years;  but  he  dyed  some 
15.  years  agoe. 

John  Grakston  dyed  in  the  first  mortality;  and 
about  5.  or  6.  years  after,  his  sone  dyed;  having  lost 
him  selfe  in  ye  wodes,  his  feet  became  frosen,  which 
put  him  into  a  feavor,  of  which  he  dyed. 

Captain  Standish  his  wife  dyed  in  the  first  sick- 
4.    n«a,  and  he  maried  againe,  and  hath  4.  sones  liveing, 
and  some  are  dead. 

Mr.  Martin,  he  &  all  his,  dyed  in  the  first  in- 
fection not  long  after  the  arivall. 

Mr.  Molines,  and  his  wife,  his  sone,  and  his  ser- 
vant, dyed  the  first  winter.    Only  his  dougter  Pris- 
15.  cila  survied,  and  maried  with  John  Alden,  who  are 
both  living,  and  have  11.  children.     And  their  eld- 
est daughter  is  maried,  &  hath  five  children. 

Mr.  White  and  his  2.  servants  dyed  soone  after 
ther  landing.     His  wife  maried  with  Mr.  Winslow 
7.    (as  is  before  noted.)    Hia  2.  sons  are  maried,  and 


APPENDIX  229 

Resolved  hath  5.  children,  Perigrlne  tow,  all  living. 
So  their  increase  are  7. 

Mr.  Hopkins  and  his  wife  are  now  both  dead 
but  they  lived  above  20.  years  in  this  place,  and  had 
one  sone  and  4.  doughters  borne  here.  Ther  sone 

5.  became  a  seaman  &  dyed  at  Barbadoes;  one  daughter 
dyed  here  and  2.  are  marled;  one  of  them  hath  2. 
children;  &  one  is  yet  to  mary.  So  their  increase 

4.  which  still  survive  are  5.  But  his  sone  Giles 
maried  and  hath  4.  children. 

His  doughter  Constanta  is  also  marled,  and  hath 

12.  12.  children,  all  of  them  living,  and  one  of  them 
maried. 

Mr.  Richard  Warren  lived  some  4.  or  5.  years, 
and  had  his  wife  come  over  to  him,  by  whom  he  had 

4.    2.  sons  before  dyed;  and  one  of  them  is  maryed, 

and  hath  2.  children.    So  his  increase  is  4.    But  he 

had  5.  doughters  more  came  over  with  his  wife,  who 

are  all  maried,  &  living,  &  have  many  children. 

John  Billinton,  after  he  had  bene  here  10.  yers, 

8.  was  executed  for  killing  a  man;  and  his  eldest  sone 
dyed  before  him;  but  his  2.  sone  is  alive,  and  mar- 
ied, &  hath  8.  children. 

Edward  Tillie  and  his  wife  both  dyed  soon  after 

7.  their  arivall ;  and  the  girle  Humility,  their  cousen, 
was  sent  for  into  England,  and  dyed  ther.  But  the 


PILGRIM  ALDEN 


youth  Henery  Samson  is  still  liveing,  and  is  maried, 
&  hath  7.  children. 

John  Tillie  and  his  wife  both  dyed  a  lltle  after 
they  came  ashore;  and  their  daughter  Elizabeth 
maried  with  John  Rowland,  and  hath  issue  as  is  be- 
fore noted. 

Francis  Cooke  is  still  living,  a  very  olde  man, 

and  hath  scene  his  children's  children  have  chil- 

8.    dren;  after  his  wife  came  over,  (with  other  of  his 

children,)  he  hath  3.  still  living  by  her,  all  maried, 

and  have  5.  children;  so  their  encrease  is  8.     And 

his  sone  John,  which  came  over  with  him,  is  mar- 

4.    led,  and  hath  4.  children  living. 

Thomas  Rogers  dyed  in  the  first  sicknes,  but  his 
6.  sone  Joseph  is  still  living,  and  is  maried,  and  hath 
6.  children.  The  rest  of  Thomas  Rogers  children 
came  over,  &  are  maried,  &  have  many  children. 

Thomas  Tinker  and  his  wife  and  sone  all  dyed 
in  the  first  sicknes. 

And  so  did  John  Rigdale  and  his  wife. 

James  Chilton  and  his  wife  also  dyed  in  the  first 
10.  infection.  But  their  daughter  Mary  is  still  living, 
and  hath  9.  children;  and  one  daughter  is  maried, 
&  hath  a  child;  so  their  increase  is  10. 

Edward  Fuller  and  his  wife  dyed  soon  after  they 


APPENDIX  a3 1 

4.  came  ashore;  but  their  sone  Samuell  is  living  & 
marled,  and  hath  4.  children  or  more. 

John  Turner  and  his  2.  sones  all  dyed  in  the 
first  siknes.  But  he  hath  a  daughter  still  living  at 
Salem,  well  marled,  and  approved  of. 

Francis  Eaton  his  first  wife  dyed  in  the  gener- 

all  sicknes;  and  he  maried  againe,  &  his  2.  wife  dyed, 

4.    &  he  maried  the  3.  and  had  by  her  3.  children.   One 

of  them  is  maried,  &  hath  a  child;  the  other  are 

living,  but  one  of  them  is  an  ideote.    He  dyed  about 

16.  years  agoe.    His  sone  Samuell,  who  came  over  a 

1.    sucking  child,  is  allso  maried,  &  hath  a  child. 

Moyses  Fletcher,  Thomas  Williams,  Digerie 
Preist,  John  Goodman,  Edmond  Margeson,  Richard 
Britteridge,  Richard  Clarke.  All  these  dyed  sone 
after  their  arivall,  in  the  generall  sicknes  that  be- 
fell. But  Digerie  Preist  had  his  wife  &  children 
sent  hither  afterwards,  she  being  Mr.  Allertons  sis- 
ter. But  the  rest  left  no  posteritie  here. 

Richard  Gardiner  became  a  seaman,  and  died  in 
England,  or  at  sea. 

Gilbert  Winslow,  after  diverse  years  aboad  here, 
returned  into  England,  and  dyed  ther. 

Peter  Browne  maried  twise.     By  his  first  wife 

6.    he  had  2.  children,  who  are  living,  &  both  of  them 

maried,  and  the  one  of  them  hath  2.  children;  by 


232  PILGRIM  ALDEN 

his  second  wife  he  had  2.  more.  He  dyed  about  16. 
years  since. 

Thomas  English  and  John  Allerton  dyed  in  the 
generall  siknes. 

John  Alden  maried  with  Priscila,  Mr.  Mollines 
his  doughter,  and  had  issue  by  her  as  is  before  re- 
lated. 

Edward  Doty  &  Edward  Litster,  the  servants  of 
Mr.  Hopkins.  Litster,  after  he  was  at  liberty,  went 
to  Virginia,  &  ther  dyed.  But  Edward  Doty  by  a 
second  wife  hath  7.  children,  and  both  he  and  they 
are  living. 

Of  these  100.  persons  which  came  over  in  this 
first  ship  together,  the  greater  halfe  dyed  in  the 
generall  mortality;  and  most  of  them  in  2.  or  three 
months  time.  And  for  those  which  survied,  though 
some  were  ancient  &  past  procreation,  &  others  left 
ye  place  and  cuntrie,  yet  of  those  few  remaining  are 
sprunge  up  above  160.  persons,  in  this  30.  years, 
and  are  now  living  in  this  presente  year,  1650.  be- 
sids  many  of  their  children  which  are  dead,  and 
come  not  within  this  account. 

And  of  the  old  stock  (of  one  &  other)  ther  are 
yet  living  this  present  year,  1650.  nere  30.  persons. 
Let  the  Lord  have  ye  praise,  who  is  the  High  Pre- 
server of  men. 


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